Good Thing I Brought My Library Card
by RandomFanatic
Summary: If you told Ivan one year ago that he'd be living in America today, he'd barely be able to believe you. If you told him he'd be working as a bouncer at a gay night club, he'd definitely not believe you. And if you told him he'd be in love with the quirky Chinese man he met (ran into) at the library, he'd say you're crazy. (Well, he'd best believe it)
1. Chapter 1

**_Today_**_ Wednesday, June 26_

_Yekaterina Braginskya: _

_Hello? Ivan? I'm not sure if this is working_

_Ivan Braginski: _

_I'm here, you've got it. How is that new computer working, then? _

_Yekaterina Braginskya: _

_It works well I think._

_ Natalya is here also _

_Ivan Braginski: _

_ Say hello to her for me. _

_ How is the weather there, by the way?_

_Yekaterina Braginskya: _

_ It's been nice so far, which probably means we're in for cold winter… _

_ You?_

_Ivan took a moment to look out his window. The clouds were blindingly white, and it was completely overcast. But it wasn't raining, and the trees in the park across the street were undisturbed by wind. _

_Ivan Braginski:_

_ It's nice today. _

_Yekaterina Braginskya:_

_ How are you liking America? _

_ (What part are you in again?)_

_Ivan Braginski:_

_ I live in Seattle? That's in Washington _

_Yekaterina Braginskya:_

_ That's near New York, right?_

_ Wait, Natalya's pulling out map. _

_Ivan sighed. _

_ Oh_

_ That is not near New York._

_Ivan Braginski:_

_ Not really, no. _

_ Listen, it's nearly time for me to go. It's been nice talking though. Keep in touch. _

_Yekaterina Braginskya:_

_ Bye little brother! _

Ivan Braginski has left the conversation

Ivan closed his laptop and slid it into his bag.

Less than four months since he had moved from Russia to the United States, and now he was employed and had his own apartment. And, as of yesterday, he had his very own library card. He had yet to really go to the downtown library, but he hoped it had a large foreign language section. He was a bit rusty on speaking English, and reading English was a headache.

Grabbing his coat, he slung it on and went out the door. He had work tonight, so if he was going to check out the library properly, he'd better get going now. He locked the door and went down the stairs.

Sirens sounded in the distance as he made his way briskly up the slope of downtown Seattle. The bright white clouds reflected painfully and he regretted not bringing his sunglasses. He settled for squinting as he passed the men sitting on the street corners, signaling his proximity to Pioneer Square.

So Ivan lived in the crumby part of the city. So he had a knife in the inside pocket of his coat, just in case. So he went without lunch nearly every day because money was so tight. He was in America, he had a green card, and what that meant to him was freedom. He was better off than his sisters were, regretfully having left them in Russia, and he was better off than his father or grandfather had been. He was in the land of opportunity and he wasn't complaining.

The wind was picking up and he could smell the Sound. Particularly fishy today. Up ahead he saw some religious protestors picketing the corners. He took out his ear buds and put them in his ears. He may not have an iPod or MP3 or anything to hook the ear buds up to, but they were sure effective with avoiding unwanted conversations.

Passing by whatever religious fanatic group that was today, he was only a block or two away from the library. The building was a huge mirrored wonder, right in the middle of upper Downtown. Ivan smiled as he walked across the last pedestrian crossing.

He held the door open for the woman behind him, who thanked him, surprised, before he entered.

"Wow…" It was a lot bigger than he expected, if he was honest.

"Would you like help finding anything?" asked a kindly looking librarian, who had watched Ivan's awestruck entrance with an amused smile.

"Er, d-yes. I would, thank you. Where would I be able to find…" he paused, "Russian books?"

The librarian's smile widened as she beckoned for Ivan to follow her. As he did, he couldn't help but stare around at all the books, all printed in English, on the shelves. He had gone to St. Petersburg libraries before, but never to actually check anything out. He always had work to do: he came to pick up Natalya whenever she had to go for class.

You see, Ivan didn't technically have a high school education, and neither did Yekaterina. Both of them had to leave school early to work on the family farm. Times were tough and money was tight and it was horrible, but now Ivan was in America, and he'd eventually be able to make enough money to send home to his sisters every now and then.

Now the librarian stopped and motioned down a long aisle, saying something about Ukrainian and Russian being at the end.

"Ukrainian and Russian… together?" Ivan asked, raising an eyebrow.

The librarian looked apologetic and mumbled something about a stupid intern the summer before.

Ivan thanked her and made his way to the section marked 'Pусский/Український' to find that sure enough, Ukrainian titles were mixed in among the Russian. It was kind of annoying, but Ivan shrugged it off in favor of sifting through and finding some interesting looking books.

Naturally there was plenty of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. A glittery pink copy of Alisa v strane chudes, or Alice in Wonderland caught his eye, though he mourned the girly look of it. He had heard about this book from when Natalya was teaching Yekaterina to read better. Yekaterina loved fairy tales and bizarre stories. He might have to check this one out.

Ivan rolled his eyes at the sheer number of Bibles translations there were.

He decided on two more books: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. These were two more books Natalya had read, so he figured they'd be good enough.

He was on his way to the checkout counter, going through the DIY and Self Help sections when it happened. A bright red in his peripheral had him turning his head down one of the aisles and.

"Bozhe moy," Ivan muttered, his eyes wide and his legs frozen to the spot.

He was short, with long black hair held back in a ponytail, and he looked to be Chinese. He was wearing a ridiculously bright red cardigan that did nothing to hide how skinny he was. He had a heavy-looking stack of books in his hands as he looked up at one of the high shelves, inching onto his tippy toes to reach that one last book.

And now he had it, and was turning toward Ivan, and Ivan had been staring. Snapping out of his trance, Ivan hurriedly turned the next corner, hoping the man hadn't caught him staring. He took a moment to collect himself before peaking back around the corner of the shelf to see where he had gone. At that same moment, though, it seemed that the man had decided to go around that corner, focusing mostly on balancing his gigantic stack of books in his arms.

They collided, and the man miraculously held onto all of his books, calling a quiet "Sorry!" behind him as he made his way to the checkout counter.

Ivan could only stand there dumbly. "Oh." Then he turned around quickly, thinking to catch him at the counters.

He was not at the counters.

He had dropped his books off at his apartment before walking to work that night. He was a bouncer at a nightclub, and while it wasn't his dream job it certainly paid the bills.

And by 'not his dream job' he meant it was a gay night club called 'Circe's Island' a few blocks away from the Space Needle. Which meant it got a lot of attention and lots of rowdy patrons. But the guys who worked there were pretty cool. Their bickering was entertaining, in the least.

"Hello Ivan!" Tino called as Ivan opened the side door. Tino was the bartender most nights, and obnoxiously social most nights, too. Berwald, one of his fellow bouncers, looked up from whatever he was doing on his barstool to nod at Ivan in greeting. Ivan liked Berwald, especially since they nearly never talked. And when things got rough with the rowdier groups, Berwald knew how to both receive and dish out a punch if need be.

Matthias was up on the stage, getting the DJ equipment all set up. Every once in a while it would happen that Alfred wouldn't be the DJ of the night, and Arthur wouldn't have bartending duties. Everyone knew nights like that only happened every so often when the stars aligned perfectly. Nights like that were universally known as Date Night, and everyone knew calling them in on nights such as this meant certain death.

Judging by Matthias and Tino's presence, it meant that the stars were aligned.

It also meant Arthur would be in a much better mood tomorrow.

That night, as he watched for trouble on the dance floor and in the bar area, Ivan couldn't keep his mind off that Chinese man he'd seen in the library. He refused to call him handsome, even in his private thoughts. No, not handsome. Ivan just couldn't think of the right word, thought it felt like it was on the tip of his tongue, and it made him feel very dumb.

Ivan had never felt as dumb as he did in the presence of that Chinese man's.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day when he went back to the library, it was definitely not in hopes of seeing that Chinese man again. No sir, he just… he just wanted to see if there were any other good books in the Russian/Ukrainian section. And if he didn't actually make it to that area that day, well, it was because he got distracted.

He was passing the same aisle as he'd hidden behind the day before, when he became intrigued in the contents of the shelf. He shrugged and went down the aisle the Chinese man had been in, and studied the book titles. He struggled for only a moment to read the marker before he gathered that it was the cooking section. That's funny.

A young male librarian suddenly popped up at his elbow then. "Is there anything specific you're looking for here? If you're wanting the cake baking books, you'll have to either wait here or go up to the reading tables and find the guy who takes them up there every day. I swear, he's here nearly every day, and all he does is take the cake books and read them upstairs. It's kinda weird, but Xiao Mei likes him so I'm not going to complain or anything." He said this all very quickly, and Ivan stood there in shock as the librarian shelved some books. Why did this guy think he wanted cake books? Did he look like a cake baking type?

Wait.

This guy who took all the books. Maybe he was the Chinese man? He had had quite the armful the day before, and he hadn't checked them out.

"Where are the reading tables?" The librarian pointed at the staircase in the middle of the floor without looking.

"Up there."

Ivan left silently, and calmly made his way up the stairs. Chances were this 'cake-guy' was not even related to the Chinese man in any way, and Ivan didn't know why he cared that much.

The tables were aligned in rows, with bright lamps on each individual one. It was hard to make out facial features with those lights shining in all the people's faces, so Ivan scanned the rows for long black hair. And oh god there he was. He was in the third row, big red button up rolled up to his elbows and his nose buried in some book that didn't look like a cook book and a stack of thick hardbound books on the desk. Ivan didn't know what to do.

He didn't have any books with him so he couldn't sit without being suspicious, but he didn't want to leave because he might lose sight of the Chinese man.

_But what did that matter? What is it with this guy, Ivan? Pull yourself together you've never been like this before. Stop acting like a girl_.

Looking around, he noticed a stack of books abandoned in the second row. He took one of these and sat at a table, facing toward the Chinese man.

He pretended to read, glancing up occasionally to catch a glimpse of the man's face across the aisle. And he made the _cutest_ expressions. His eyes would sparkle at parts, and he'd have to look up, away from the book. Ivan would quickly look back to his book at the occasions, but not before cataloguing the almost childlike face and perpetual blush, the hastily cut bangs or chocolate eyes.

Then he would look back down at his book and be immersed once more. He smiled or frowned or stifled a laugh in the most _adorable_ way Ivan had ever seen. He would never, ever admit that, though. No sir, Ivan did not use the terms 'adorable' or 'cutest' to describe anything. Definitely not another man.

He had the night off, so he went home to his apartment, sat on the couch, and popped open a bottle of vodka. It's cheap and flat, but it's better than nothing. The radio was on, but the English was too fast for him to understand yet. He'd catch most of it but then a word or two would go by and he wouldn't understand and he'd miss the meaning of the whole verse. He mourned leaving his cassettes back home with Yekaterina.

Taking another pull from the bottle, his thoughts returned to the Chinese man in the library. He briefly wondered if, if he went back tomorrow, he'd be able to see him again. This was gonna get to be a problem, wasn't it?

It was getting to be nearly eleven, and Ivan knew there was a slim chance of Katerina being online, but he pulled his laptop onto his lap and logged into Skype anyway.

**_Today, _**_Thursday June 27_

_Ivan Braginski:_

_ Had interesting day. Library here is very big, but didn't have much in Russian. _

_ How was your day? _

And Ivan left it at that, not really expecting something, as he logged into his email. There was one message in his inbox, about some sale going on. He logged out and went to Facebook.

He had one friend request. Tino Väinämöinen. Ivan sighed—it wasn't like he could ignore it—as he accepted. His homepage was almost instantly flooded with Tino's statuses and pictures (quite a few of which included Berwald).

Before he had time to think about this, a bleeping sound returned his attention to the Skype window.

_Yekaterina Braginskya _

_ Oh, you went to library? That's good. You should probably start practicing your English more, you know. _

_ Natalya is at a friend's house._

_Ivan Braginski_

_ I did not actually expect to catch you. What are you doing on?_

_Yekaterina Braginskya:_

_ You remember that it's 10 am here, right? _

_Ivan Braginski:_

_ Ah, yes? I thought you were working. _

_ Also, that 'friend' of Natalya's better not be friend of the male gender. _

_Yekaterina Braginskya:_

_ Haha, you're funny. His name is Toris and he's quite nice young boy. _

_ And I've got day off today. _

_Ivan Braginski:_

_ I am not convinced of that. If he hurts Natalya I'm coming home and I'm going to hurt him. _

_Yekaterina Braginskya:_

_ Ivan!_

_ They are not even dating. They're just friends; her study group just met at his house tonight._

_Ivan Braginski: _

_ Are there other boys in this study group? I'll break their arms._

_Yekaterina Braginskya:_

_ Honestly Ivan if I thought Natalya was in any danger with these boys do you think any of them would still have their eyes? _

_ And if you come home you'll lose your green card and I'd have to wring your neck. _

_ So tell me more about Seattle. Have you been able to go walk around yet? Aside from the library_

_Ivan Braginski: _

_ Not yet… _

_Yekaterina Braginskya:_

_ Have you made any attempt to meet new people? _

_Ivan Braginski: _

_ Not yet… _

_Yekaterina Braginskya: _

_ Ivan. You need to work on that. _

_ I need to go now, bye! _

_Ivan Braginski: _

_ Bye…_

_Yekaterina Braginskya has left the conversation. _

Ivan sighed and went back to his internet browser, throwing back that last swig of liquid in his bottle.

Tino had uploaded a new photo, this one of Matthias and some other blond on a red couch. Ivan had to laugh to himself, because the other man did not look happy with Matthias' hand on his shoulder.

Ivan went back to have another drink of his vodka and remembered it was empty. As he stood he started to feel a little woozy, but he shrugged it off and made his way to grab more from the kitchen.

When he came back to his computer, Katerina had sent another message:

_Yekaterina Braginskya:_

_ Also, you better not be drinking. It's not good for your health or social status. _

If there was anyone who _really _knew Ivan, it was that woman. Feeling somewhat unsettled by how well Katerina had him figured out, he logged off of Skype.

(And popped open the new bottle.)


	3. Chapter 3

So the next day, Ivan made his way back to the library. And if anyone asked (not that anyone would), he was going to brush up on his 'English' as his sister had advised him to.

He went to the shelf nearest the entrance and grabbed the first book there was, and headed upstairs. To read it. Obviously.

He did the same the next day. And the day after. In fact he did it every day that week, and beyond that.

To brush up on his English, that is.

If he happened to figure out the Chinese man's exact library-visiting schedule, that was just a coincidence.

Ivan liked to tell himself that.

The fact that Ivan's visit to the library only ever coincided with the other's schedule was another total coincidence. Yeah.

But how could he help himself? Some days, he'll look up from the page he's not been reading to see the little smile or laugh on the Chinese face, others he'll see a deep set frown, eyebrows knit together as he stared blankly at the thick text book in front of him. Some days he had an iPod, which he hummed to as he flipped through cookbooks and recipes (Ivan still didn't know what the thing with the cookbooks was). One day Ivan swore he saw the other man wiping a tear away with his big red sleeve (he always wore some ridiculously huge red top).

And that was another peculiar thing, on top of the cake books he always had. He always, _always_ wore red. It got to the point that in Ivan's head, he began referring to him simply as 'Red'.

Ivan felt himself growing illogically fond of Red, too. It was strange because he never really grows _fond _of people. The only people in his life he can honestly say that he's affectionate toward are his sisters. Their father left them when he was young and he can't really remember his mother, and the other children in his village growing up were undesirable as friends. But as he looks up now and sees that brilliant smile on the Chinese man's face, he can't help but smile too.

Great, now he's going soft.

Every so often, a cute Asian librarian (also Chinese, perhaps?) would come by and talk to Red, bring him books or take away the ones he's read. They would smile and talk quietly for a moment, and Ivan stubbornly ignored that possessive instinct of jealousy he felt in his gut. Chances were they were friends, and friends only. Maybe she was just a very friendly librarian? Either way, the array of pinks she worked into her outfit every day was mildly impressive.

That Tuesday, Red was sitting there, reading a book (which appeared pretty good, judging by how enthralled he was with it), when some guy walked by and recognized him. Ivan watched as he came up behind him as he was reading and got his attention. Red obviously recognized the guy as well, but not fondly. The guy talked to him insistently even as he turned back to his book, obviously uncomfortable. Red tried to tell him to go away (Ivan could tell because of his body language) but the guy ignored him.

Ivan felt the urge to intervene. He was just about to, in fact, when the guy gave up and left. Ivan glared at the back of his head as he went.

Now Red looked uncomfortable, even as he settled back into reading. He must have become very uncomfortable after talking to that guy, because he packed his things up and left about an hour earlier than he usually did on Tuesdays.

Ivan frowned as he watched him go. It would be awkward for Ivan to leave right after him, so he turned back to the random book he had grabbed that day. He couldn't help wondering, though, who that guy was and what he was saying that made Red so uncomfortable.

He read a chapter or so more of his book, and left soon after. Apparently he had picked up a book called _Call of the Wild_. Ivan had always liked dogs, so the book made him somewhat upset, and it was easy to put it down.

He collected his items and went home, where he heated up a microwave dinner before dressing for work. He put a long tan pea coat on over his black security shirt and locked the door on his way out.

It had been somewhat sunny when Ivan had left the library, but now it was sprinkling lightly and the wind had picked up. It would probably be pouring down rain by the time he got to Circes Island. He should've grabbed his scarf before he left.

About half way to the club, he was passing by a dirtier part of town with dark alleys and shady looking people on every corner. He kept his head down and looked up minimally.

Out of the corner of his eye, though, he caught a glimpse of red. He paused (totally not thinking that maybe it was Red) and turned around, easily spotting the red garment he'd seen. And sure enough, there was that silky ponytail spilling over the back of the Chinese man's red hoodie as he walked away.

Ivan was so stunned he stood there watching Red walk away, and before he knew it the man reached the corner and turned around it, out of sight.

Without thinking, Ivan followed. A bright red hoodie is anything but inconspicuous amongst the gray skies and people of Seattle. He wasn't walking very fast, and his stride was shorter than Ivan's, so he had to walk languidly behind in order to keep a safe, inconspicuous distance (though following someone who you've been watching at the library for weeks is really suspicious anyway, isn't it?).

Neither Red nor Ivan saw the man crossing the street toward Red until he called out.

"Eh! Yao! Fancy bumping into you again! Must be my lucky day."

Ivan could see Red—Yao?—stiffen up from where he watched. And it was the same guy from the library, hailing him down. Yao visibly pretended to have not heard him, but that was not deterring the guy.

"Yao! Buddy, wait up!" he hollered, half-jogging up behind Yao, now that he'd reached the sidewalk. Yao deflated, and stopped to wait for the guy to catch up. As soon as he could, the guy threw an amiable arm over Yao's shoulders. Yao stiffened even further, but the man ignored it, and began talking. Ivan couldn't hear him anymore, but he could sense that Yao was uncomfortable, and that he wanted to get away from this guy.

He needed to intervene. They were on a relatively empty street, and if Yao got into danger with this man, there would be no one else to help him. Thinking quickly, Ivan picked up his pace so he was nearly behind the two as they walked awkwardly, the other man's arm still on Yao's shoulder. Ivan could smell the dope on the other man.

"Y-Yao?" Ivan asked, suddenly hesitant. Yao's head snapped back, glad for a distraction from the ugly man leaning on his shoulder. "Is that you?" Ivan ventured to continue.

"Uh… do I know you?"

The man leaning on Yao eyed Ivan over Yao's shoulder, sizing him up.

"Yeah, yeah we went to…" Ivan paused, trying to give Yao some sign to play along, "high school together." His eyes flickered over to the man with Yao, who had released Yao in favor of grabbing a pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket and lighting one up. "I'm Alex? Remember?" Ivan stared imploringly into Yao's eyes.

Luckily, it clicked. "Oh yeah! Hey Alex! You're looking well."

Ah yeah. He was supposed to be giving Yao some kind of excuse to get away from his 'friend'. "Yeah, wow, you too. We should catch up some time."

His friend, catching on, had moved to lean an arm back over Yao's shoulder, but Yao moved away, letting the guy stumble. "Well, what do you know, I don't have anything going on right now. Why don't we go to a bar? Jay, man we'll talk some other time, okay?"

The 'friend' looked rather ruffled, but he just cursed and flicked his cigarette onto the sidewalk and walked away, taking the smell of pot with him.

"Ha," Yao rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "thanks for that. Did you really go to high school with me?" Yao asked as soon as the other was out of earshot. This close, Ivan could tell Yao was about eight inches shorter than him, and older than he had appeared from a distance. He was looking up at Ivan gratefully, and Ivan felt like he was going to throw up due to nerves.

"Er, no. I just - you looked like you'd like way out of… that?" Ivan shrugged, knowing that he sounded nervous.

Yao looked visibly relieved, but still a little weary now that his 'friend' was gone. He nodded gratefully and readjusted a book bag strap on his shoulder.

"Would you like me to… walk you to your home?" Ivan asked, concerned and wondering if he could help remove that stiff, uncomfortable posture Yao had.

Yao looked somewhat alarmed at this proposal though, and Ivan instantly regretted it. Did he use an awkward English phrase by mistake?

"Ah, yeah, no thanks. I mean, thank you, but I'm going somewhere." And with that he turned and left with an awkward smile back at Ivan.

_Damn it, Braginski you fucked up big time now. I wonder if he recognized me? I don't think he did. He must never notice me, then. _Ivan didn't know if he was disappointed or relieved by that thought.

Checking the time on his watch, he realized he had five minutes to walk ten blocks to the Circes Island now. Shit.

"Braginski, you're'a late," his boss said as he burst through the backdoor of the club. "Back up, bastard."

Mr. Vargas and Antonio, his boyfriend-or-something, appeared from a dark corner of the back room.

"Ivan, what the hell. You're twenty minutes late and I already called Sadiq in to cover for you. And you didn't answer your phone you damn bastard." If it was anyone else talking to Ivan this way he'd have a thing or two to say in response. But this was Lovino Vargas, and this was how he addressed people. "Berwald and Sadiq have it covered already. You can go home. Figure out how to pay Sadiq back."

Ivan took all of this in silently, and felt almost bad for causing such an inconvenience to Sadiq.

Antonio smiled and waved as he dragged Lovino off, out of the backroom and into the main dance floor room.

Now Ivan could go home and not have any distractions from thoughts of his embarrassing encounter with Red—or Yao, now that he actually knew his name—or he could go out to the bar and have a drink. A vodka did sound pretty good right about now.


	4. Chapter 4

When Ivan woke the next morning his head was swimming. He squinted and clasped a hand over his eyes when tried opening them, his memory of the night before a daze.

All he really remembered was a black ponytail and Tino's concerned expression. Did he help Ivan home last night? Ivan certainly didn't remember getting himself home.

Either way, he stumbled out of bed and made his way to the kitchen, trying to avoid turning any lights on. He was starving. Did he eat dinner last night? Probably not: he usually had a late lunch and an even later dinner, making something quick after he got off his shift.

He poured himself some of his cheap cereal and saw his phone plugged into a charger by the fridge. The blinking red light told him he had a text.

In fact, he had several.

_Sadiq: Man you owe me big time. I had a date tonight. _

_Tino: Are you all right? Why is Sadiq here? _

_Tino: Text me when you wake up in the morning. You were pretty wasted. _

_Alfred: I don't know if you remember this but you threw up on my shoes last night. You're gonna be so hung over in the morning, dude! _

Well, apparently he drank a lot more than he had planned to.

He sat down on his threadbare couch with his bowl and began to eat. Maybe he'd go down to the library once he felt better. Today was Wednesday so Yao would be there…

Yao. How'd he figure out Yao's name again?

And suddenly all the embarrassment from yesterday's encounter with the Chinese came rushing back.

Oh god, he couldn't go back to the library today. Not when Yao was there. He just couldn't bear the shame of being recognized or approached. He had one chance to make a good impression on his crush (crush? When did he start thinking of him like that?) and he blew it big time. Fuck.

He guessed he'd just have to avoid the library on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Friday, Saturdays, and Mondays between twelve and four from now on.

Yao walked home quickly and silently, keeping his head down and eyes on the sidewalk.

It had been bad enough to run into Jay at the library, but far worse to run into him again mere hours later on the street. He had been so relieved when he heard that soft Russian voice call out to him.

And that brought him to more curious thoughts: who was that 'Alex'? Why had he felt the need to step in? It was rather strange.

And, why did Yao have this niggling feeling that he knew him from somewhere? He vaguely recognized the pale face and silver hair, but where from? Yao continued to ponder this all the way home.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out.

Kiku: _Can you pick up vegetable oil we're out. _

Yao sighed and typed out a positive response: _Yeah, I'm right by Uwajimaya. Need anything else?_

Kiku texted back almost automatically. _Maybe some seaweed? I can't tell if we'll have enough for the next week. And some ramune. Thanks._

Yao sighed, and his thoughts returned to the soft spoken Russian. He tried to place the face as he made his way to the store.

He continued to try to place his face as he walked through the aisles at Uwajimaya.

He continued as he waited in line.

He continued as he carried the bag home.

He continued as he walked up the five stories to Kiku and his apartment.

And, right as he reached for the knob, carefully balancing the second bag against his side, he realized where he knew that face from.

The library. Nearly every day Yao was there, the Russian man was there also, sitting for hours at the study table but getting nowhere in the seemingly random book he was reading that day.

Ivan stayed home that day, and walked to work a new way that week in case Yao happened to walk down the same street again.

It was starting to get very crisp in the morning and at night, and his scarf was necessary to go anywhere. Tino said it looked good on him.

It had been over a week now since their encounter on the streets, and Ivan had not been to the library since. Ivan felt rather cowardly about that, but it was much better than being embarrassed even further.

It was Saturday, and Sadiq, Berwald and Ivan were all working. Berwald was out by the door, while Sadiq and Ivan covered inside. Ivan thought Sadiq was fucking annoying, but he ignored it in favor of professionalism.

Tonight there was a particularly rowdy crowd, and at the heart of it all were Gilbert Beilschmidt and Francis Bonnefoy.

The short story is that these were two of the most obnoxious asshole patrons the club had to put up with.

The long story is that one time Francis flirted with Tino and upset Berwald, and then Gilbert tried to start a fight with Ivan but was too drunk to punch straight. But they were the boss' boyfriend's friends, so they were pretty much exempt from being banned.

Today, the Frenchmen was on the dance floor, and Ivan couldn't tell what he was doing, but he could clearly hear the profanities being called by the German.

"Hey, cut it out," Ivan heard Sadiq order, even over the booming music.

The German mumbled something, but quieted down, the Frencmen appearing at his side.

Ivan rolled his eyes; as always, there was a trail of men eyeing Bonnefoy.

Beilschmidt made a show of disdain as he slunk away, tailed by his right hand man.

"If you ask me," Sadiq yelled over the music to Ivan, "I don't care who they're friends with. It's bad business having them in here. One of these days Berwald's going to knock some teeth in of theirs and teach 'em a lesson. I would, if I were still young like the two of you."

Ivan agreed with his point, but was annoyed by the last comment. Sadiq wasn't even that much older than Ivan or Berwald, but liked to act like he was, as a superiority thing. In reality, Berwald was two years older than Ivan, at 23, and Sadiq was just 25.

But Ivan nodded, and Sadiq went over to the bar as Arthur beckoned him.

The rest of the night was pretty slow.

When Ivan went home, at nearly 4 am, he was not tired enough to sleep. Rather, he pulled out his laptop and played around online.

Eventually he got bored and logged onto Skype. Surprisingly, Yekaterina was online.

_Ivan Braginski_

_ Katerina? _

_Yekaterina Braginskya_

_ Oh hey big brother_

_ This is Natalya_

_Ivan Braginski_

_ Hi Nat, how is St. Petersburg?_

_Yekaterina Braginskya_

_ Fine. Kat asks if you've made friend yet._

Ivan sighed. He seemed to do that a lot when talking to his sisters.

_Ivan Braginski_

_ No, I've been working too much._

_Yekaterina Braginskya_

_ Not making friends with your co-workers, either? That doesn't make for a very healthy work place, Ivan_

_Ivan Braginski_

_ Natalya please stop. I came here to work and make money. I can make friends later._

_Yekaterina Braginskya_

_ With that attitude you're gonna wake up in twenty five years completely disappointed with your life_

_ Yekaterina agrees with me_

_Ivan Braginskia_

_ Gonna?_

_Yekaterina Braginskya_

_ Going to, it's like a slang term, I guess._

_Ivan Braginski_

_ I don't know what slang means either._

_Yekaterina Braginskya_

_ That is beside the point. Point is: make friends, dammit. Maybe they could help you learn English, too._

_Ivan Braginski_

_ Yeah…_

_Yekaterina Braginskya_

_ Isn't it really early there, Ivan? You can't make friends by sleeping in all day!_

_ Go to sleep!_

_ Are you going to the library again tomorrow?_

_ You seem to go a lot…_

_ Is there something—or someone ;) – you're not telling us about? _

_Ivan Braginski_

_ No, I'm not going to the library tomorrow._

_ You're right, I should sleep. Bye. _

_Ivan Braginski has left the conversation._

Ivan did not go the library that day.

Nor the next day, or the day after that.

It felt weird not to, though. It had become his sort of routine on those days he knew he'd see Yao there—breakfast, library, home, snack, work, dinner. Now he sat at home or went over to the park and read his library books.

He got a lot more reading done without the… distractions of the library setting, but he felt something was missing from the experience.

That was just too bad though, because he couldn't go back to the library now, not with how embarrassed he still was. No sir, not an option.

Over the weeks that he had spent constantly at the library he had checked out about ten books, and over the one week he spent away from the library, he read all of them.

He wanted to go get more but he abstained. He even began reading through them a second time, when a library notice came in the mail.

He had a due book.

Now he _had_ to go back to the library.


	5. Chapter 5

Now that Yao knew where he recognized 'Alex' from, he felt terribly bad that he hadn't even thanked him properly for helping him out. Briefly he wondered if the man had followed Yao from the library, but quickly shot that thought from his head.

Maybe he could catch him at the library next time Yao went, and invite him out for coffee or something? Yes, that was a good idea. He'd pay for both of them, and relieve his conscious.

Except, the next day when Yao went, the Russian was nowhere to be seen. He wasn't there the next day, either. Maybe he had a new shift at work and came to the library on a different schedule now?

This thought caused Yao to come more often, spending every free hour sitting and reading cookbooks and waiting for the other man to finally show up. He had just started to worry when his sister approached him.

"You're looking for that Russian who always sits over there, aren't you? I haven't seen him in a while," she said, sliding a Martha Stewart magazine in front of him.

He thanked her for the read and asked defensively, "How would you even know if I was looking for him? Can't I just come to the library?"

"Yeah, but you've been coming more often than usual, and he's been coming less. I thought you knew him? You two were always on the same schedule, I thought. You weren't? Wow, that makes him always watching you kinda creepy, huh?"

"He… what?"

Mei sighed exasperatedly. "In a cute way, Yao; stop overreacting. He looks like a sweetie. A really big, intimidating sweetie." She took the seat beside him, "Don't you think?"

"Wh-what?" Yao sputtered.

"He _is _pretty cute, isn't he?"

"Xiao Mei, you need to stop. Do not. Aren't you supposed to be working or something?"

"Aren't you supposed to be at work in like, fifteen minutes?"

"Oh," Yao's eyes widened, looking at his watch. "Shit."

Ivan dreaded turning the book in. It would only take a second, but what if he ran into Yao? He wouldn't be able to handle the embarrassment of it.

He opened the library door slowly, holding it for as many people as possible. He surveyed the bookshelves, especially in the cookbook area, as he headed toward the turn-in box.

_In 'n' out, real quick, Braginski, _he thought. Vaguely, he saw the pink librarian, Yao's friend, out of the corner of his eye.

The distance between the turn-in box, across the room from the door, had never felt so long before. It had also never felt so crowded at the front desk before.

He edged around a Korean kid who kept making big hand movements as he explained something to his friend, nearly smacking Ivan in the face. As soon as he reached the turn-in, he slid the two books into the slot.

Okay, he made it without any sign of Yao. Good.

He turned around quickly, anxious to get out and go home, and ran right into someone who had been standing behind him. Ivan's larger structure sent the other sprawling, books flying, and Ivan automatically leapt forward to help the man up, apologizing profusely.

The obnoxious redness of the t-shirt didn't register until it was too late for a retreat.

"Ai! Hey it's you! I've been waiting to see you again!" Yao exclaimed upon recognizing Ivan. "I felt so bad about the other day!" he said, brushing himself off.

Ivan sheepishly bent down to collect Yao's books. "You feel sorry? Do not. I…" Ivan didn't know what he did, but he knew he did something so, "I did something that made you uncomfortable, so_ I_ am sorry."

"What? No, I was flustered and did not thank you properly. Please accept a coffee with me, despite my having been rude." Yao bowed his head slightly, seemingly embarrassed by his 'rude' actions.

_What?_ Ivan was surprised, but it's not like he could say no, could he? "D-sure, I guess. I do not understand why, though." He mumbled the last part, barely loud enough for Yao to hear, and the Chinese man appeared to either not hear it or ignore it altogether.

"Great! I know a really great place near here." And then Ivan was being dragged by the sleeve out the door and into the cloudy day.

When they got onto the sidewalk Yao slowed to walk beside him. Ivan had no idea what to say or do. He didn't want to stare at Yao, so he avoided looking at him altogether. He didn't want to say the wrong thing again, so he abstained from saying anything. Luckily, Yao carried the conversation by himself.

"It's getting chilly, huh? That probably means they'll have a nice pumpkin spice latte now. Have you ever heard of Symposium Coffee? It's a coffee shop one of my friends co-owns with her ex-husband. I thought it was going to be awkward after they got divorced, but luckily it wasn't."

Ivan smiled as he listened to him babble on about his friend—name Elizaveta, apparently—and somehow get to the topic of how chai tea has gotten so changed and Americanized. "You see, I know a lot about teas and herbs because my mother used to own an herbal remedies shop in China Town. My family still owns one of the oldest acupuncture clinics in Seattle, up in the International District; I suppose that's the correct name for it."

He continued on with his random tangents of thought as they walked down the sloping hills of downtown Seattle.

"What do you think?" Yao asked him suddenly.

Ivan hadn't been listening for the last block and a half, so he didn't know how to respond. "I… I'm sorry, what?"

"Global Warming, do you think it's true?"

"I don't know," Ivan started cautiously. "Ah… all I know is that my uncle always told us how easy we had it. Apparently our Russian winters aren't as cold as what he grew up with. But…"

"Oh, we're here!" Yao pulled open the door and Ivan entered, thanking him.

They were greeted by piano music and a central European woman calling "Hello, Yao! How are you today?"

"I am very well. Do you have your pumpkin spice latte again?"

"Yes, of course. Would you like two?"

Ivan looked about the shop. It was moderately sized, with a grand piano in the far corner. A man in a long blue pea coat was playing, his unruly hair bouncing as he moved with the music.

Yao looked briefly over at Ivan, and then nodded yes. "Sixteen ounce, please," he said as he pulled out his wallet.

Ivan hadn't even noticed that Yao had ordered and paid before he was being led, once again by the sleeve, to a table near the door.

"We'll walk with our coffees; I have to work soon," Yao explained. "So you grew up in Russia, you said? What part?"

"Er… St. Petersburg."

"Ah, yeah? That's where St. Basil's Cathedral is, right? Have you ever seen it?"

"Oh, no. I'm actually from the outskirts, about an hour away from any of the tourist stuff. It's still St. Petersburg, though."

"That's funny. I have an English friend who lived in London for two years as a student, but claims he only ever saw his campus and the pubs at night. I find that so hard to believe, and would not ever believe it if it were anyone but him."

Ivan laughed. That sound like Arthur.

"So you speak Russian, yeah?" Yao continued.

"A lot better than English, da. I mean- yes."

Yao laughed. Ivan was suddenly very nervous, butterflies swarming around in his stomach. Oh god, he was going to embarrass himself again, wasn't he?

"Two pumpkin spice lattes, Yao," Elizaveta called from the counter.

Yao smiled as he got up. He took his time getting the coffee. He hoped Ivan didn't notice how nervous he was. His hands were shaking and he knew he was babbling. He talked a lot when he was nervous.

As he collected the drinks, Elizaveta came and grabbed his arm. "Hey, who's your friend?"

"Uh, I'm just paying him back a favor."

"A 'favor', eh?" she waggled her eyebrows at him suggestively.

"Not like that, god Elizaveta."

"Yeah, sure."

Yao glared and returned to the table, handing Ivan his. Ivan had been listening to Roderich intently.

The piece was something by Bach, Ivan knew. He tried to figure it out as he stood and took the cup from Yao.

"Thanks, Liz!" Yao called as the two of them set out again. "Try your coffee, you'll love it I promise."

Yao watched as he took his first drink.

"What do you think?" he asked hopefully. "It is sweeter than I expected. I usually take mine black."

"But it's good, yeah?"

"Yes, I guess it is."

Yao smiled and took a sip of his own cup.

Several moments passed silently. Ivan fiddled with the lid of his coffee, which hadn't been securely sealed onto the lip of the cup.

"Oh, yeah, I guess I didn't point Roderich out to you. Remember, he was the one I was talking about, Liz's ex? Yeah, he owns the place, technically, but Liz does all the work, to be honest. Sometimes he can be very nice, but other times he's a total dick."

Ivan nodded. He would describe both of his own sisters similarly.

Silence ensued once more.

Yao was freaking out. Why? He didn't know. He had not thought this all through. This encounter, their second one now, seemed to be going on and on, awkwardly dragging into a silent affair save the sound of Yao sipping his coffee and the wind now bearing down on them. What should he say?

"So, I'm sorry, what's your name again?"

"Aah—" How awkward! He had told Yao his name was Alex before. Should he tell him the truth now? "Ivan."

"You mean to say that you're Ivan—from St. Petersburg? You're like a walking incarnation of all Russian stereotypes, aren't you? Do you drink vodka, too?"

"More often than I should…"

"Huh, I've never tried vodka. I'm a bit of a light weight to be honest. I think I'd be on the floor after one glass."

Ivan shrugged. "I supposed you just need to get accustomed to it."

Yao laughed, and seemed to contemplate Ivan for a moment before asking, "How old are you?"

"Aah… twenty one. Why?"

"Oh. You look a lot older than you are. Or, at least, you seem like it."

"Oh."  
"I'm sorry, was that rude? I didn't mean for it to be." Yao straightened visibly, suddenly apologetic.

No, no. It's just no one's ever said that before."

"Oh." Yao glanced at his watch. "Shoot, I'm running late. Can you find your way back to the library from here?"

"Uh, yeah. Thank you for the coffee."

"No problem, thank you for helping me the other day. See you at the library, probably!" Yao waved one more time and turned, walking speedily down toward the waterfront.

As soon as he was out of sight, Ivan threw his coffee into the trash. He felt bad doing so, but he could not take how sweet it was. Coffee was not meant to be like that.


	6. Chapter 6

That night, before the club opened, Matthias and Sadiq approached Ivan near the bar.

"Eh, Ivan, my man," Matthias started, patting Ivan roughly on the shoulder.

"You been working here a couple of months and we been thinking," Sadiq continued.

"You should start working out with us!" Matthias finished with a huge smile.

Ivan looked at the two of them before responding, "I don't have money for gym membership… thank you for offering though."

"No, no, no bro. The boss' pops owns a gym in the city. He lets Berwald and I work out for free and gives a discount to the rest of Romano's employees."

"You could probably get by for free."

"I'll text you the address later, kay?" Sadiq said, waving his phone at him.

They left him then, Sadiq heading to the door and Matthias starting to sound-test the equipment on stage.

"I go there, too, a lot of the times. And so do two of our other friends," Tino piped up, wiping out some shot glasses with a rag. "Yeah, you should come by and meet them some time. You might like them."

Ivan nodded and smiled for Tino.

Tino smiled back and went about wiping up the bar.

Ivan did not plan to go to the gym.

The next day, Ivan was half way to the library when his phone buzzed in his pocket.

It was Tino. _Are you coming to the gym today?_

Ivan stopped to text back. _I had not planned on it. _

Almost immediately Tino replied. _You should come by, just to check it out. Please? _

Ivan sighed. _Sure. What's the address again?_

Ivan caught the bus to Sodo region and found the gym within a half hour.

The gym was called 'The Arena' and it was in a stone building near a Starbucks (which isn't saying much, as it _is _in downtown Seattle).

When Ivan entered he was greeted by an empty reception room. "Uh, hello?" he asked, looking around the receptionist's desk.

"Oh!" A thump came from the backrrom. "Ah, one moment!" There was a shifting of boxes, and suddenly a brunet boy popped up behind the desk, "Ve, hello! How can I help you?"

Ivan was taken aback by the man's appearance. He looked remarkably like Romano…

"Oh you must be Ivan! Tino told me you were coming. I'm Feliciano, and Romano is my big brother!" he exclaimed, talking extravagantly with his hands. "I could tell you were wondering that; you looked sorta confused. We're twins!" He spoke very quickly, with a strange accent, and Ivan slowly processed what he was saying. He had a different way of talking, and Ivan didn't know if he liked it at all.

"Oh. Yeah."

"Ve, great! You can go ahead into the gym. Do you not have a bag? When you do, you can just ask me for a locker key."

Ivan nodded, thanked him, and went through the door to the right of the receptionist's desk.

They gym was good-sized, not quite as big as most chain-owned ones, but also nothing to sneeze at.

At the far side of the gym was the weight-lifting area. A muscular man with sleeked back blond hair was lifting a considerable weight, as a brunet man (who also remarkably resembled Romano, but much older) was spotting him.

The only other inhabitants right now were on the full-body machines along the left wall of the gym. Tino and company were perched across two or three of these machines.

As soon as Tino saw Ivan, he hailed him over and introduced him to the two friends he'd talked about.

Their names were Emil and Lukas, and Ivan could tell they were brothers. Neither of them looked very happy to be there (which is funny: why would they be there then, if they didn't want to be?).

Matthias, who had been pressing some weights together in front of his chest (Ivan did not know the name of the machine), paused to greet Ivan, pat him roughly on the shoulder, and get a drink of water. Berwald just continued what he was doing and grunted vaguely, his version of 'hello'. Tino gave Berwald a look before turning his attention to Ivan.

"I am just so glad you came. Sadiq was here a minute ago, but he got a call and had to leave," Tino explained. "He looked rather upset…"

"Upset? He was fucking furious," Emil provided.

"Must be fighting with his boy again, then."

The five of them nodded, exasperated, in agreement with Lukas. Ivan felt like he was missing something.

Matthias adjusted to lift the weights at the foot of the bench, working his thighs and calves now. Lukas sat on the bench behind him, picking absently at his nails. Lukas had such an expression of disinterest that one couldn't help but be somewhat impressed.

Tino pulled up two stools, and motioned for Ivan to sit down. He did, and the five of them seemed to fall back into a conversation they had been having before (Actually, it was more accurately four of them falling back into said conversation; Berwald stayed completely silent save for when Tino addressed a question directly at him. Matthias also addressed questions toward Berwald, but Berwald ignored him).

Maybe twenty minutes later, Sadiq returned, looking wet and disgruntled. "It's fucking raining."

"Wow thank you for pointing that out. It's almost like we live in Seattle or something."

"Shut up, Lukas," Sadiq spat, pulling off his shirt and wringing it out. "Hey Ivan," he added as an afterthought.

"What happened that you had to leave?" Tino asked, concerned, as Sadiq dragged a stool up next to Ivan.

Sadiq sighed deeply as he sat down heavily. "Herakles is just being so…" he trailed off and sighed again, rubbing his forehead.

Matthias laughed under his breath, eliciting a glare from both Sadiq and Lukas as he glanced at the Norwegian seated behind him. "Yeah, I know, man." Lukas struck him over the head.

Emil laughed also, and Lukas kicked him.

Later, Ivan had run out of time to visit the library, so he went straight home.

He did not have work that night, and he wondered what to do with the extra time.

He went to the cupboard to look for a bottle of vodka. There was none. He'd have to pick some up.

The liquor store was three blocks away. And it was raining. And dark.

Ivan went anyway.

When he returned a half hour later, he was wet and cold. It wasn't very cold compared to what he grew up with, but he was still cold. He was soaked to the bone.

He set the bottles on the counter and went to take a hot shower.

The next day, Ivan went to the library. Tino had texted him again, but Ivan ignored him this time. There was no way he was going to the gym right now. He was going to get to the library before Yao today, according to his observations of Yao's schedule.

He grabbed a random book and went to his normal table. His book seemed to be a modern account on the life of some Greek figure from ancient times.

Fifteen minutes later, Yao arrived. He saw that Ivan was there, smiled, and asked if he could sit by him.

Flustered, Ivan just nodded, and Yao took a seat.

Yao opened the first book on today's two foot thick stack; a Japanese text on desserts. Yao started flipping through pages filed with strange-looking dishes. He stopped about half way through the book, and started to read.

_He can read Japanese?_

It was harder to sneak glances at him from this proximity, but that was okay.

Yao sifted through his giant stack of cookbooks over the next hour, occasionally copying down a recipe into the red notebook that Ivan had never noticed before.

Ivan hadn't been paying much attention to his own book since Yao arrived, but when Yao was finished with his books, he glanced over to what Ivan was reading.

"Ai, I loved that book! Did you read the _Iliad_, too?" Yao asked excitedly, leaning over to read what part Ivan was in.

"Uh…" _Shit._ "I don't know what that is."

"Oh." Yao looked disappointed, and Ivan felt rather bad, though he knew it wasn't really his fault he had never heard of the book. "You should read it. It's a classic, one of Homer's." Yao was restacking his books and standing, getting ready to leave.

"I was thinking it would be nice to get coffee again, but I work early tonight. Are you free tomorrow?"

"Oh," Ivan said dumbly. "Yeah. What time?"

"I don't know, we'll probably see each other here. Then we can walk there together whenever."

"Okay." Ivan didn't know what else to say.

"Okay," Yao agreed, taking his books, and leaving. His hands were shaking as he went down the stairs.

"Okay," Ivan said again, to himself, as soon as Yao was out of sight. He looked back down at the book and recalled how excited Yao had gotten when he saw it in Ivan's hands. He read the blurb. It was a book about the Greek warrior Achilles and his friend Patroclus, and their not-necessarily-just-friends relationship. Oh.

But Ivan was still curious about this '_Iliad'_ that Yao spoke of.

The pink librarian came by then, collecting books that had been left by people.

"Excuse me, where could I find a copy of the _Iliad_?"

That night, Ivan struggled to read through the first chapter of the _Iliad_. He had a headache by the time he gave up; there were too many words he didn't recognize, and the sentence structures were really fucking with his head.

And now, with silence and nothing to read, it dawned upon him that he kinda had a… _thing_ with Yao tomorrow (He refused to call it a date. Just two guys having coffee together, is all).

He was lucky to get through the other day without screwing up. How was tomorrow going to go?

_Don't think so much about it, Braginski_. He pulled out his laptop to check Skype. He had several messages from Yekaterina.

_Yekaterina Braginskya_

_ Hi Ivan!_

_ How's it going?_

_ Natalya is looking at colleges right now_

_ Do you think University of Washington is good school? _

_ I think she's going to apply there_

It had been a while since Ivan had been on, obviously.

_Ivan Braginski_

_ Do you really think she'd move so close to me? Hopefully not just because I'm here. _

Ivan left Skype and opened Facebook. He had three friend requests now.

The first was Berwald, and Ivan accepted it without hesitation. He had to laugh at the first post that appeared on his homepage then.

It was a photo of a bookshelf posted by Berwald, with no caption. Ivan guess Berwald made it himself; Berwald just seemed to be that type. Matthias had commented and said, "Wow, you should make me one!" to which Berwald responded, "No."

He went back to the friend requests and found that Sadiq was the second on the list. He accepted.

The third request, however, caused him some pause.

'Yao Wang,' it read, beside a little icon that showed Yao holding a big stuffed panda against his chest and a peace sign, a big smile on his face.

What was he supposed to do? If he accepted it right away he may seem desperate. But if he didn't accept it right away Yao might think he's ignoring him purposefully.

At that moment, Skype bleeped at him.

_Yekaterina Braginskya_

_ I think she'd like it there._

_ Anyway, we sent you package_

_ Happy Birthday, Vanya! (Natalya says so too) _

_ It should be arriving any day now_

_Ivan Braginski_

_ You shouldn't have done that…_

_Yekaterina Braginskya_

_ Oh be quiet and accept it for once, Vanya!_

_Ivan Braginski_

_ No… you should've just kept the money.._

_Yekaterina Braginskya_

_ No, this is Natalya and you need to shut up, Ivan_

_Ivan Braginski_

_ Alright. I still don't think you should have though._

_Yekaterina Braginskya_

_ This is Katerina again_

_ And Ivan we both know what you would do tomorrow if you we didn't send you package_

_ No drinking tomorrow, by the way. Alright? _

_Ivan Braginski_

_ My birthday is tomorrow?_

_Yekaterina Braginskya_

_ Ivan! You do not seriously not know when your birthday is?! _

_ And technically it's two days from now for you in your time zone. _

_Ivan Braginski_

_ Oh._

_Yekaterina Braginskya_

_ Well, we have to go. Keep making friends!_

_Yekaterina Braginskya has left the conversation_

With not another thought to Facebook or what was to come the next day, Ivan closed his laptop with a sigh and went to bed.


	7. Chapter 7

Ivan doesn't know why, but he feels like Alfred really doesn't like him. Occasionally he'll catch Alfred glaring at him from across the room.

One time he tried asking Arthur about it, but before he could, Alfred appeared out of nowhere and dragged Arthur to the side, whispering urgently in his ear.

Okay then. Strange.

* * *

Yao slept well that night, after a cup of tea or two.

He woke late, though, and rushed through a shower, dressed quickly, and sat down to eat his breakfast as fast as he could manage. Yao didn't live too close to the library, and he didn't like having to speed walk in order to get there by noon. He liked to take his time and watch people.

Kiku sat down across from him at the table. Yao looked over at him with toast in his mouth. "Aren't you supposed to be at work by now?"

Kiku started at him blankly for ten seconds before replying, "What? No, we're having a family lunch today, remember?"

Shit. "What."

"Yao, we have been planning this for three weeks," Kiku sighed, exasperated.

"But I thought it was supposed to be dinner!"

"We changed that plan two weeks ago to lunch." Kiku was not impressed.

"No, but…"

"We are meeting Mei in twenty minutes down along the piers. I assumed you were getting ready to go. That is, until you started eating. Come on, go brush your hair, we have to go soon. If you insist on keeping your hair long, you must also keep it presentable."

Yao scowled as his little brother sat back, crossing his legs and opening the Japanese newspaper that was on the table.

_But, Ivan…_

"Well? Hurry up, we're leaving soon."

Yao grumbled as he made his way to the bathroom to comb his hair and tie it back. Like Kiku's mop looks any better.

Damn, but what was he going to do? It was a half hour to noon now, whch was when Ivan would likely be expecting him to arrive.

_Shit, shit, shit._

* * *

Ivan arrived fifteen minutes after twelve. He had expected Yao to be there before him, but when he wasn't Ivan wasn't too concerned. He sat down and started reading a Russian translation of the Iliad.

He was three chapters in the next time he checked the time. It was on 'o' clock. Where was Yao?

* * *

There was a waiting list at the restaurant.

"Well, that is annoying," Kiku said, taking a seat in the waiting area.

"Yeah." Yao sat beside his brother and checked his clock. It was twelve twenty now. How long would Ivan wait for him at the library?

"Oh, Mei's here."

"Huh, sorry I'm late you two. You would not believe the crowds in West Lake this morning!" Kiku and Yao stood to give her a hug.

* * *

Maybe something had come up that morning and Yao was running late? It's not like this was a date anyway, with such loose parameters. Really, why did Ivan even feel the need to assure himself of that? Of course it wasn't a date. What did it matter?

* * *

Yao decided quickly on his order. Mei, as always, ordered the house salad, whatever it may be.

And Kiku, as per usual, took ten minutes to peruse the entire menu, the little shit.

"Uh… maybe, hmm, no. Perhaps, umm…"

Yao was ready to rip his hair out.

* * *

Ivan was on chapter five now. He checked his watch. '1:45.' This was very unusual, for Yao to arrive so late.

* * *

Yao ate his food uncharacteristically fast today, to the incredulous stares of his younger sibilngs. His younger siblings who, of course, were taking all the time in the world to eat their dishes.

He just wanted to tell to cut the chit chat and _hurry up_ for god's sake, but he knew that it would do no good. Not with these two.

"So how have you been lately, Kiku?"

"Oh, well enough I guess. We just got this new project at work…"

_Oh my gooood_.

* * *

Maybe Yao just forgot?

* * *

The waiter came to collect the plates and asked if they were interested in dessert.

"No thank-" Yao started to say.

"Actually, could I see the menu?"

Oh my god. This is it. Yao was going to die here. He was never going to be able to leave. He was forever trapped in this restaurant.

* * *

Or… maybe he changed his mind?

* * *

Kiku ordered a fucking cake. A _whole _cake. For three people.

What the fuck, Kiku.

* * *

Well, it wouldn't matter too much to Ivan if he _had_changed his mind, right? Whatever.

He went back to his book, stubbornly ignoring the pain in his chest.

* * *

"How would you like the check split?"

"Two ways, please," Mei said, pulling her purse onto her lap.

"Oh, no, let me. I'll have the check," Kiku offered, putting up a hand to Mei.

"Oh, thank you Kiku. That's very kind of you." Mei beamed. "And it would be oh so nice if you could give Yao and I a ride to the library, also, seeing as we have cut so inconsiderately into Yao's 'library time'." At this, Mei winked at Yao, and Yao knew he was blushing.

"What?" Kiku asked as he handed his card to the waiter, looking between Mei and Yao. "What does that mean?"

"Aiyah! Nothing!" Yao cried, glaring at Mei. Mei, the jerk, just giggled.

Just then, an obnoxious ringing emanated from Kiku's pocket. He sighed and excused himself to answer the call.

"That's why you've been so fidgety today, huh? You got a hot date to get to?" Mei asked quietly, leaning over the table and wiggling her eyebrows.

"What-no! What do you mean by that?" Yao sputtered indignantly.

"You liiike him don't you?" Mei asked in a mocking, sing song voice, smirking mischieviously.

"I do not!"

"You doo not what?" Kiku asked as he returned.

"What was tat call about?" Mei asked, diverting the subject of conversation.

"It was Herakles so, you know, the usual."

"Is he staying on the couch again tonight, then?"

"Yeah?"

Yao sighed. Herakles was a fine guy, but when he got into philosophy (which was nearly every time he came to their place), Yao found himself at odds with him over everything. And that's not to mention religion and politics…

But he could worry about that later. Right now he had to get to the library!

* * *

Ivan had just picked up his books and was heading downstairs when Yao appeared, running up the stair case. He was so focused on quickly ascending the stairs that he nearly ran right past Ivan.

"Yao?" Ivan asked, surprised to see him, since he had convinced himself that Yao wasn't going to show up.

"Ai! Ivan! Oh, thank goodness, I thought you would've left by now!" Yao was panting. He had only run up one flight of stairs: he must not be in very good shape.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Ivan asked the double-bent Yao.

"Yeah… I'm fine… Just give me a second. You still up for coffee then?" he asked as soon as he caught his breath.

Ivan smiled (totally not relieved. Completely nonchalant about everything), and nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

* * *

**A/N: **so it's come to my attention that none of my page breaks have been translating into the online version of the story, which is really unfortunate. I don't really have the time to go back and fix that all, but the corrected version can be found on AO3, if you want.

also, my tumblr is singingasongofanchormen (. ). just saying


	8. Chapter 8

They walked in silence for a block before Yao turned to Ivan and said, "I'm so, so sorry I was late. My brother and sister dragged me out for lunch."

"Oh, you have siblings?"

"Yeah, a little brother and sister. They're total pains, I'll tell ya."

"Ah, I have a little sister too."

"Oh yeah? You're the oldest?"

"No, no I have an older sister, too. Natalya and Yekaterina. The most stereotypical Russian names, yeah?"

"Yeah. I don't know, mine are named Kiku and Mei, right? That's pretty normal."

"Kiku? That does not sound Chinese…? Or does it? I wouldn't know."

"Well, that's complicated, I guess."

Yao didn't say anything more about this 'complex' situation, so Ivan didn't say anything either.

The silence they fell into today was unlike that before. Somehow it seemed to be more amiable than the other day.

"So, are you going to have another pumpkin spice latte today?" Yao asked, realizing that he had caused the current silence.

"Uh…" Ivan really didn't want another one of those sugar coffees of death, "Maybe I'll try another drink today?"

"Ah, yes. That is a good idea. They have many good drinks. Maybe you could have an almond joy mocha."

_Oh god that sounded like diabetes in a cup._ "Maybe."

This time, the walk to the coffee shop seemed much shorter, and they were there before no time. "Hello, Yao!" called Elizaveta from behind the counter. Today, Roderich was playing Chopin.

"Hey Liz! How's it going?" Yao called back.

"Ah, good. Business as usual, you know. What'll you have?"

"Two almond joy mochas."

_Oh god you should've spoken up, Braginski. _

"I'll pay, alright?" Yao said, looking back at Ivan.

"Ah, no, I'll pay for myself, I insist."

"No, no, no, none of that. I got it."

"Wait no—"

"How about I give these to you on the house? You're one of my best customers anyway, Yao."

"Really? Wow, thank you Liz. That's very kind of you."

"Yeah, of course." Elizaveta rolled her eyes as she went about making the coffees. She also smiled to herself as she saw the pain in Yao's friend's eyes as he watched all the syrups being poured into his cup.

"Do you want to sit here today, then? It looks like it might start raining soon," Yao asked Ivan, motioning to one of the booths in the corner.

"Sure, I guess."

"You say that a lot, don't you?" Yao asked as he sat down on at the booth he picked.

"What?"

"'I guess'. Are you not sure? Are you confused? What does 'I guess' even mean? Is this an educated guess?"

Ivan stared at him for a second. "What?"

"Never mind. So are your sisters back in Russia? Have you told me this before?"

"No, I don't think I have told you. They live in Russia, yes. In St. Petersburg. I came here so that I could hopefully be able to bring them over as well." Ivan fiddled with his hands as he said this. It was an old habit of his.

"I hear that story a lot. In China Town there are a lot of single mothers trying to bring their children over, or a student looking to hook up with an American citizen so they can stay in the states after their education is finished. It's kinda sad how few of them work out. But you seem to be the type to put their mind to it and actually make it happen."

"Ah… thank you?"

"Are you guessing at that too?" Yao asked, a teasing smile on his face.

Just then Elizaveta came around to the table, setting down their coffees. "Two almond joy mochas. Enjoy."

"Thanks again, Eliza," Yao said, taking his cup.

"Yeah, of course."

Ivan and Yao's chat continued, to subjects that Ivan can't even remember how they got to. He did remember, however, when the music stopped and Roderich got up and moved toward the door.

"Yeah, Elizaveta? I need to go buy groceries. I might see you later."

"Yeah, bye, whatever," Elizaveta called as she waited on a customer.

Yao watched this with an interested smile on his face. "Wait, let me tell you how I met these two."

"Alright."

"I went to high school with Roderich. We were in the same year, and would talk enough. I guess we could be considered friends, though it's strange to think of it like that in retrospect. He was best friends with a boy whose parents had been bankers in Switzerland. I can't remember if he was actually Swiss or not, but that's beside the point because he was still raised in Switzerland and had a really awesome accent.

"Anyway, they were absolute best friends all the way through school, until their senior year. Then, they both ran for president of the student body. It was an absolute bloodbath between the two. Everyone was so scared to vote for one over the other that the one neutral party, some other girl whose name I can't remember won. They tied for second.

"Ever since then it's been a rivalry between them, even into adulthood, which I think is extremely immature. They went to the same college though—Yale or Princeton or some uppity school like that—and competed privately in everything they did. Then Vosh—that's the other boy's name—went to business school. Roderich, though, met Elizaveta and married her and started this business.

"I met Elizaveta when Roderich invited me to their wedding. It was friendship-love at first sight. Roderich, well, I don't like him nearly as much as I liked high school-Roderich." Yao sighed.

"But _now_, Vosh is trying to train his little sister to be a businesswoman, but she hates it. She came here, not knowing about Vosh and Roderich and everything, and applied for a job. She only works when Roderich is out, though, because Roderich doesn't know Elizaveta accepted her application. He told her to deny it. And, here she is."

A young girl with a sweet face and choppy blond hair entered then. She waved and smiled sweetly at Yao, before going behind the counter and greeting Elizaveta.

"Wow," Ivan said. "That story was much more involved than I was expecting."

Yao laughed. "Yeah, I guess it's pretty hard to concisely explain one's life story, huh?" Yao said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'd say so, da."

"Then this guy," Yao continued as the door was flung open again, "is another secret employee Elizaveta maintains."

Ivan looked over at the newcomer half-interestedly. Half-interestedly, that is, until he recognized him.

"Is- is that Gilbert Beilschmidt?"

"Why yes, do you know him?"

"Well, not exactly, but…"

Ivan watched as Gilbert approached the counter, leaned over and kissed Elizaveta on the cheek. Elizaveta rolled her eyes and pushed playfully against the German's thin shoulder.

"Are those two a… a couple?" Ivan asked. (He had thought Gilbert was gay?)

"I think so. Liz denies it though."

"And Roderich doesn't like him?"

"Yeah, not really. I don't know that story, though."

Elizaveta and Gilbert were still talking, the former giggling slightly, before Gilbert looked over the inhabitants of the coffee shop, red eyes landing on Yao and Ivan. He looked slightly shocked on seeing Ivan, but recovered smoothly, nodding and saying something to Elizaveta. She seemed to have something to show him behind the counter, turning and leading him behind. Before he went out of sight though, Gilbert flashed one last look back at Ivan. It seemed like he was trying to communicate something to him, but Ivan had no idea what that would be; what would the guy who openly seemed to hate Ivan have to communicate to him?

"Elizaveta has him fix up whatever's broken around the café, seeing as Roderich's not the type to be up on that kind of thing."

Ivan laughed. Roderich looked much too fashionable to be fixing up sinks or whatnot.

"So, anyway. Tell me more about yourself. Aside from the whole library thing," Yao said, looking up at Ivan expectantly.

"Uh… I don't really know what there is to say, I guess."

"You guess," Yao interjected quietly. Ivan mock scowled for a moment before continuing.

"Yes, I just moved here. I don't know what to say."

"What did you do back home?"

"I worked odd jobs. One day I'd be shoveling gravel and the next it would be fixing fences on someone's farm. One time we had a very bad winter and a lot of cattle froze to death, and my job was to remove the dead ones."

"That's so sad, though! Poor cows!" Yao looked legitimately stricken at this, and Ivan didn't understand why. I mean, the cows were in line for the slaughterhouse anyway… The other got over the cows quickly though, a better thought coming to mind. "You're probably really strong from all that, huh?" Ivan could see Yao trying to figure the size of his upper arms through the coat he was wearing.

"I guess? I don't really know."

"There you go guessing again."

Ivan sighed.

Yao tipped his coffee back and took the last drink. Ivan's was still full. He fiddled with it idly, not watching Yao as he swallowed.

"Did you even drink any of yours?" Yao asked when he was done.

"Uh, yeah."

"Do you not like it?"

Ivan paused. Would it be rude to say that he didn't? Or was it worse to lie?

"Um, not really. Sorry."

"Don't be sorry, I didn't pay for it. Would it be alright if I take it though? I've got a double shift tonight."

"That's fine, go ahead." Yao took it sheepishly, smiling sweetly.

"Im sorry, but my shift starts very soon. Would you like to go?"

"Yes, that is fine."

They stood, and Yao called a farewell to Liz as they left.

"Yeah, bye!" came Elizaveta's voice as the door closed behind them. It was raining outside.

"So, uh, I'm going this way. I'll see you tomorrow, maybe?" Yao asked, almost shyly.

"Maybe, yeah."

Yao smiled and turned away, walking quickly in the opposite direction than the library. Ivan smiled to himself as he pulled his hood up, stepping out from the shelter of the café's overhand.

Yao sipped from the coffee daintily. He had not thought it was going to rain today, so he had not dressed appropriately, and the warm coffee was much appreciated. _Ivan's _coffee, he reminded himself, and there was a weird feeling in his chest.


	9. Chapter 9

Ivan walked to work that night in the pouring rain. Even his scarf was soaked by the time the backdoor shut behind him.

Tino greeted him cheerily, and Berwald gave him his customary grunt. Matthias was patting a melancholy Sadiq on the back.

"You look cheery today, what's up?" Tino asked Ivan as he sat down near the others.

"Ah… what? Nothing…" Was he that obvious?

"At least someone's happy," Sadiq mumbled.

At this comment, Berwald pointedly made eye contact with Tino and rolled his eyes; Tino shook his head. Ivan smiled, because those two were such a perfect match and he found their silent conversations to be funny.

"Jerks, get ready to work," called Lovino. "What are you all standing around for?"

It was a very busy Saturday night, and of course, in came Bonnefoy and Beilschmidt at the usual time. Antonio was with them tonight. Ivan didn't pay them much attention. They were unusually quiet, with Beilschmidt shooting glances over at Ivan every so often.

Two hours into his shift, another big group came in through the door. A brunet with a tight V-neck and his shy Asian friend was among them.

"Keep an eye on that one," Sadiq had told Ivan, pointing at the brunet. Ivan didn't know why Sadiq wanted him to watch him, but he figured Sadiq knew this crowd better than Ivan, so he trusted his advice.

The Asian friend went to the bar after the brunet left him for the dance floor.

The brunet, when Ivan spotted him ten minutes later, was dancing provocatively between two other men, staring insistently at one point across the floor from him.

He looked very cool about the whole situation; or perhaps he was disinterested or sleepy.

"Yo, Ivan, can I talk to you?" someone asked from behind the Russian. Ivan turned to find Beilschmidt standing behind him.

"What?"

"I see that you've gone to the Symposium a few times before, yeah?" the smaller man started.

"Yeah? And? I'm working right now."

Gilbert's shoulders slumped before he continued," Yeah, but… I need you to not tell Elizaveta that I come here, okay?"

What? Why would Ivan ever bring that up? "Yeah, sure I won't."

Gilbert huffed a breath before nodding and rejoining his friends.

That was weird.

Ivan looked back toward the dance floor to keep an eye on that brunet like Sadiq had said to, to find that he was gone. Where did he go?

Ivan scanned the club quickly with his eyes. Eventually, he found the man on a couch in a corner, sleeping, with a cat on his head. How did that cat even get in here?

Just then, a shouting came from the dance floor. Punches were being thrown by the time Sadiq and Ivan got between the two men.

Later, as Ivan was nursing his black eye, after the club was closed, Ivan overheard a conversation between Arthur and Sadiq.

"Dammit, why does Herakles always have to fuck around like that? You know, he packed a bag and went to a friend's house while I was gone today. He locked me out of the bedroom the last two nights and he let his stupid fucking _cats_ sleep on all my clothes and now there's cat hair everywhere. And then he pulls this shit. Man," Sadiq paused to take a pull from his glass. "I don't know. I don't know if he's coming back this time."

"Oh, cheer up ol' chap. If he does come back, that's great. If he doesn't, it's his loss, yeah? Maybe you're better off, yeah?"

Sadiq huffed visibly. "I don't know."

Alfred came over then, jumping easily over the counter top and wrapping his arms around Arthur from behind, saying, "Sup, 'Diq?"

"Honestly, Alfred, I'm trying to talk to Sadiq. Get off me," Arthur said sharply, trying to wrestle his way out of Alfred's grip.

"Fine, cranky-pants," Alfred pouted as he let go.

Ivan noticed Sadiq's jealous glances at the couple. He felt sorry for him, fighting with his boyfriend. The man Sadiq had pointed out to Ivan must have been Herakles.

"What about you, then, Ivan? Do you have someone?" Sadiq asked, turning away from the other two as Alfred kissed Arthur on the nose petulantly.

"Ah…" Ivan thought for a moment. He _wanted _to be able to say yes, thinking of Yao, but he couldn't. Not yet, anyway. "No."

"What was with the pause, eh?" Matthias asked, appearing behind Ivan as if from nowhere. "Something you wanna share?"

"What? No, I—"

"Yeah Ivan, go on, share," Alfred piped in.

"No, I—"

"Do you have a girlfriend, or a friend-girl-almost-girlfriend?" Tino asked, joining in excitedly.

"Well…" Ivan looked away.

"Or is it a boyfriend?" Tino pressed, smirking.

Ivan didn't even try to say no; the others would just interrupt him again anyway.

Tino gasped at Ivan's silence. "Really? I always thought you were straight!"

Ivan raised his eyebrows at that—the others shot Tino looks as well.

"What?" he asked of these glances. "What?" he repeated when they collectively rolled their eyes, turning back to Ivan. "Okay, well. You still have to tell us everything."

"Yeah, what's his name?" Matthias said, nudging Ivan with his shoulder.

"That's why you looked so happy earlier, huh?"

"No, no, stop you guys. Go on Ivan, tell us."

Ivan mock-glared at the five of them before relenting, "Well, first of all, we are not dating."

"So there is someone! What's their name?"

"How'd you meet?"

"How long ago did you meet?"

Ivan waited for them to stop talking before saying, "Well… his name is Yao and—"

"Yao Wang? That wanker, he didn't tell me he was dating someone!" Arthur exclaimed, almost causing Tino to drop the glass he was wiping.

"You know Yao?" Ivan asked, incredulous. Maybe Arthur _was_ that English bartender friend Yao had told him about.

Ivan didn't get to hear Arthur's response, because Lovino came by just then, shooing them out, saying, "You bastards are still here?" What, do you not have anywhere better to be? Come on, get out, go home."

As they all went out the back door together, Tino announced, "You have to come to the gym tomorrow and tell us all about this thing you got going on, okay Ivan? You have to." The others nodded in agreement.

There was a package on his doorstep when Ivan got there. Half of the writing was in Russian; a new sticker was translated and stuck over the St. Petersburg stamp.

Ivan smiled grudgingly as he brought the box inside. He cut it open hastily and pulled the items out of the packing peanuts.

There was some expensive Russian chocolate, a pair of knit gloves, a cap, and knitting needles. They were, upon further inspection, Ivan's pair he had left at home. At the very bottom, there was a spool of blue yarn and a card. Obviously, Natalya had drawn the cover: a birthday cake with elaborate frosting drawn on, and a group of nesting dolls around the bottom.

He opened it, and found Yekaterina's scratchy handwriting on one side, with Natalya's neat, looping handwriting on the other.

Yekaterina's side read:

"Happy Birthday, Vanya! I hope you are doing well. I figured you might want your needles this time of year, even though Seattle doesn't get very cold. You had that yarn in your room, so I figured I'd send that, too. I hope the gloves fit. Also, the chocolate is caramel, your favorite. I hope it survived the trip. It's getting cold here; the farmers are still trying to recover from the fires this summer, though. It doesn't look too good for the cattle men… "

She continued on about current affairs back home for about a paragraph before,

"You remember old Mr. Winter from down the street? Apparently, he fell and broke his hip a few days ago. Natalya has been helping him around after her studies. Just thought you should know.

"Anyway, I hope you have a good day!  
-Yekaterina"

Natalya's was shorter, talking about how well school is going and how much she liked her study group. It was mostly small talk up until about the third paragraph.

"I miss you big brother. I hope you like America and can do well for yourself there."

Ivan paused there. He felt his throat constricting slightly and he blinked rapidly, putting the letter down for a moment. He missed home.

Once he recollected himself, he continued to read the letter.

"I hope you can make yourself a new home there. I want you to be happy and make friends.  
Love, Natalya."

Ivan smiled, even as he forced himself not to cry.


	10. Chapter 10

Ivan was awoken by a text from Tino the next morning._ You're still coming, right? You have to!_

Ivan sighed as he rolled out of bed. Tino was strange to Ivan; he was insistent and always expected people to comply with him. Ivan wondered how Berwald dealt with that.

_Yeah, sure. When are you getting there? Ivan shot back his reply ._

As usual, Tino texted back immediately. _About an hour from now. Matthias and Lukas are joining us at one._

_You should come at one, too. Alfred and Arthur are coming around then, and I know Arthur wants to hear about how you and Yao met._

Ivan didn't respond again. He looked at the time: about eleven 'o' clock.

Could he walk to the library and still make it to the gym on time?

Yeah, probably. He dressed quickly, and pulled his coat and scarf on, going out the door. It was windy and rainy and Ivan was near soaked by the time he made it to the corner.

Today, he honestly wasn't going just to see Yao. He wanted to pikc up a Russian-English dictionary and work on his specific vocabulary.

When he arrived at the library, soaking wet, he made his way to the foreign languages, shivering as he went.

As soon as he got the Russian/Ukrainian section, of course, Yao came around the corner, scanning the shelves with his eyes dutifully. He didn't even see Ivan until they were seven feet away from each other and Ivan was just starting at him blankly.

"Hello Ivan! I did not see you there! Wow, you're soaked," Yao exclaimed, frowning at Ivan's dripping coat. "You should take that coat off before you catch a cold/"

Yao helped him take the coat off, seeing as the soaked sleeves were clinging insistently to his damp skin.

"You're gonna need something hot to drink, yes? Are you staying very long? I'll got get you a cocoa from the Starbucks across the street."

"No, that's okay, I'm Russian, I—"

"No, nope, none of that. I'm going. Go up to the table and I'll be right back. Cocoa or cider?"

Ivan stayed stubbornly silent—he did not want Yao to get him a 'cocoa' as if he were a child! How embarrassing!

That is, until, Yao glared at him, and repeated. "Cocoa, or cider, Ivan. Well?" His voice was dangerous and Ivan suddenly didn't feel like being stubborn any more.

"… Cocoa."

Yao's stern face broke into a smile. "Great. I'll be right back."

He went off through the aisles toward the street.

Ivan begrudgingly grabbed a book and went upstairs.

Ivan was late to the gym.

When he got there, Arthur, Alfred, Sadiq, and the five Nordics were waiting near the full-body machines and the benches around them.

"So, it appears that someone didn't tell us about their birthday," Tino said, looking pointedly at Ivan.

"Tut, tut," Matthias said, shaking his head.

"What did you do?" Ivan asked, seeing through their 'disappointment'. They were up to something, it seemed.

"We got you a present! We all chipped in and got you a gym bag with some stuff."

Stuff? Ivan wondered.

Tino held the bag out in front of him. It was a nice Nike one, and Ivan could feel that there was a water bottle, some gym clothes, and maybe some shoes in it.

"Really? You didn't need to do that. How did you even find out it was my birthday?"

"Whoa, slow down there friend. You don't have to act so excited about it," Lukas said dryly.

"Romano told us," Arthur explained over the Norwegian's snide comment.

"All the clothes are Berwald's size; I assumed they'd fit you too, but they all have gift receipts in case they don't. Anyway…"

"Tell us more about Yao!"

"How did you two even meet? He doesn't ever go anywhere social, except the damn library or bookstore or whatnot. Unless you met him at the library," Arthur said, sitting on a bench.

One look at Ivan and Arthur knew the answer to his question.

"You seriously met at the fucking library? Really?"

"That's so romantic!" Tino chimed in excitedly.

"But—I already said—we're not dating!" Ivan reiterated exasperatedly.

"You should be, though!"

"When are you gonna ask him out?" Matthias asked.

"Ask… him out?"

"Yeah, like on a date."

"Oh. Well, I…"

"You were planning to ask him, right?"

"No, not really."

"Well, when you do," Arthur started, "beware of his little brother. They live together and he is super protective of Yao. Even if you aren't dating, if he notices you spending lot of time with Yao he'll demand to meet you. And he'll probably tear you apart verbally."

"His little brother? Kiku?"

"Wait, you've met him?"

"No, not yet. Yao's just talked about him before?"

"Man, I'll tell you," Alfred said, taking a bite of a hamburger (where did he get that from?), "Kiku and I were best friends freshmen year in high school." Alfred nodded nostalgically. "Then came sophomore year. And he became 'best friends' with Ludwig the Nazi over there," Alfred pointed over at the blond man, lifting weights in the corner as he had been last time Ivan was here.

"Alfred! Just because he's German does not mean he's a Nazi! Stop being racist!" Arthur smacked him over the head.

"Hey! I'm not being racist, I'm just pointing out that he probably hates Jews!"

"I can hear you, jackass," Ludwig called from across the mostly-empty gym.

Arthur just glared at Alfred, shaking his head.

"I cannot believe you right now." Arthur turned back to Ivan. "Well, I am still upset that Yao hasn't told me anything about you. I saw him just last Sunday and he didn't say a word! Speaking of which," he looked at his watch, "I have to run. I've got a late lunch with him in a half hour. Are you ready to go Alfred? Nice chatting with you fellows."

That night, Ivan unzipped the gym bag the guys had bought him to find exactly what he had expected.

He pulled the items out and laid them out on the couch beside him. There was a pair of tennis shoes (which were miraculously his size), a light blue tank top, some gym shorts, sweat pants, a red short sleeved shirt, a water bottle, and a towel. He checked the sizes and eyed the clothes carefully, before deciding all of it would fit. Tino is very good at picking out gifts.

He unzipped the side pockets, also. They were mostly all empty: some had tags or other small items.

When he got to the very last one, however, he was surprised to find one final gift.

It was a DVD with a sticky note stuck on its' cover. "From Matthias, with love 3".

He pulled the sticky note off and nearly dropped the case. Pocahontass was the title, and on the cover there was an almost-nude woman with what appeared to be a stereotypical Native American deerskin dress. Ivan didn't know what to do with this. He'd heard of porn before but he'd never before been confronted with it face to face.

Ivan was still gawking at this gift when his phone buzzed in his pocket. It was a text from Arthur. _I take back what I said about Yao never talking about you. He wouldn't stop talking about you once he found out we knew each other. He forced me to give him your phone number. I hope that's alright._

What.

What. Shit.

Ivan stared at the little screen, frozen once again, until another message popped up on screen.

It was from an unknown number.

_Hi Ivan! This is Yao! I didn't know you knew Arthur! Small world, huh? :)_

Oh shit.


	11. Chapter 11

'_Uh, hi!_' Ivan started to type. No, no, that didn't sound right. He deleted it; he sounded awkward and overeager.

Maybe, _'Oh, hello.'_ No, too formal.

How was he supposed to respond? Dammit.

He composed a message to Arthur: _I don't know what to say to him_.

_Well don't ask me. Just say hi, yeah? _

Ivan guessed he was just being ridiculous. Why was texting Yao any different than talking to him? Why was he being so awkward?

That was probably the wrong question to ask. He was awkward whether he was in person or on the phone. He was just awkward, and it was awful. God, he just wanted to be able to talk to Yao!

His phone buzzed with another text from Arthur.

_He saw that you texted me first after he text you. He took my phone and saw your message. Just. Say. Hi._

"Who're you texting now?" Yao asked. He was still waiting for a reply from Ivan.

"Ivan," Arthur said simply, clicking the buttons and sending the text.

"What? Why'd he text you instead of me? Why hasn't he texted me back?"

"I don't know, maybe your text hasn't gone through yet," Arthur lied, not looking up from his phone. He knew perfectly well why Ivan hasn't responded.

"Let me see that," Yao demanded. Maybe Arthur had given him the wrong number.

"No!"

"Give it to me," Yao insisted, grabbing at Arthur's phone. Yao had faster reflexes, so he easily took it from the Englishmen.

He clicked through his recent messages, meaning just to find Ivan's number. What he saw instead was Ivan's most recent message.

_I don't know what to say to him_. Aw…

"Give that back, you bloody wanker! Don't be so uncivilized Yao, snatching people's phones! Like a bloody thief! Wow," Arthur huffed, taking his phone back.

"Ivan is terribly awkward, isn't he?" Yao asked.

Arthur paused a moment. "You saw that, huh? Yeah, he really is. Would almost be endearing if he weren't so intimidating. Like a bloody seven foot Russian Mafia gangster…"

"Intimidating? Ivan? No," Yao said, waving him off.

They were walking along the piers in downtown Seattle. Yao liked to watch the water and the people passing by.

Arthur looked at him and shrugged. "I guess you've never seen him in a fight. He can really throw a punch, sometimes."

"So you said he was a bouncer at the club you work at?" Yao asked. He thought for a moment before saying, "I guess that sounds right. It fits."

Arthur had just typed out another text, probably to Ivan. Yao was curious as he to what Arthur said, but he wasn't going to pry into that again so soon.

His pocket buzzed then, and he pulled out his phone. _Hi. _It was from Ivan.

Yao smiled to himself. He didn't see Arthur watching him carefully out of the corner of his eye.

That night at work, Berwald approached Ivan before the doors were opened.

"Ivan, could you cover some of my night these next few weeks, do you think?"

"Uh, yeah, sure I guess," Ivan nodded. "What's up?"

"I'm going to Minneapolis for a week or two. My mother's sick."

"Oh." Ivan felt awkward for asking, all of a sudden. That was really personal.

Berwald just nodded and walked back over to the bar. Ivan saw Tino lean over the bar to whisper something in Berwald's ear. Berwald smiled softly (Ivan thinks that's a smile?).

Ivan wondered what Tino had said.

Ivan didn't know this, but ever since he had left the gym the day before, Tino has been scheming. He had texted Matthias and Arthur, and interviewed Arthur and Alfred over Skype for information on 'Yao.' He was a forming a 'hook-Ivan-up-with-Yao' coalition. He _had _been planning to have Berwald help him, but maybe Berwald having to leave was fortunate as well. Not saying that his mother getting sick was fortunate—Agnes was a lovely woman and Tino hoped she got well soon—but he may be able to factor Berwald's absence into one of his plans.

He was pleased with how Arthur had 'accidentally' given Yao Ivan's number. Hopefully that would also help the two along.

His thoughts were interrupted when Berwald came over to the bar. Tino leaned over, encouraging Berwald to come close as well.

"I'll miss you, hon" he whispered and kissed Berwald on the cheek.

Berwald was leaving the next day. It had all come up very suddenly, and Berwald had booked the first flight to Minneapolis he could. Tino hadn't even known anything was going on until Berwald called him at nearly midnight the night before.

Tino was worried, to say the least. The others may not be able to tell, but Tino saw Berwald was scared for his mother. But Tino didn't bring it up. Tino worrying over Berwald's mother wouldn't comfort Berwald much, so he continued on like everything was normal.

"Yeah," was all Berwald said.

Berwald left work early tonight: he didn't stay while Tino chatted everyone up like he usually did. Ivan guessed he had to pack for his trip.

"Hey, so Ivan. I'm dropping Berwald off at the airport tomorrow morning, and then I'm free for the whole day. Do you think you might want to hang out after that? We could have a late breakfast somewhere or something?"

Ivan felt like he should suspect something fishy here, but Tino had such a friendly, expectant expression that he really couldn't say no.

"Okay, I guess."

Tino texted Ivan at nine-thirty the next morning.

_What's your address again? _

Ivan gave him his address without thinking. He was still in bed, and it didn't quite click why Tino was asking for such a thing.

_Okay, great. I'll be there in ten minutes, okay?_

_Where do you want to have breakfast?_

_I know a great place near Pike Street. _

Ivan received these texts, among others from the Finn, within a minute. Wasn't he supposed to be driving right now? Driving to Ivan's place to pick him up and bring him to breakfast with him. Oh yeah.

Ivan got dressed and went out of his apartment, grabbing his coat and scarf. It looked to be a very cold day.

Tino pulled up within a minute in a small grey Volkswagen. A little white dog was bouncing around in the backseat, yipping playfully at Ivan through the window. Ivan was weary of this because dogs usually hated him. He remembered being attacked by a farmer's dog one summer. He was pretty sure he still had scars on his knee.

He opened the passenger-side door and sat down quickly, not wanting to let the dog out.

"Hi Ivan!" Tino greeted him cheerfully. The little dog yipped at Ivan's ear. "No, Hana! Bad! Back up! I'm sorry, I'm watching Berwald's dog while he's away. I mean, it's technically _our_ dog but Ber usually takes care of it, and so it's kinda more his dog than mine but, ya know," Tino explained, pushing the dog back into the backseat and putting the car back into drive.

Breakfast was at a pancake house in the middle of downtown. It seemed to be a very liberal establishment, with some psychedelic drums beating on a record player in the corner. Half of the waiters had dreads. The other half had exotically shaved heads, halfway or with patterns.

Tino looked perfectly at home here. Ivan imagined Tino and Berwald coming here, and had to smile at the image of Berwald's seriousness in a place like this.

They sat, and Tino made small talk. Ivan just nodded or shook his head occasionally. It was like Tino was used to carrying the conversation.

After they finished their breakfast, Tino asked for the split check and they paid.

"Hey, I know a really cool book store near here. Do you want to go?" Tino asked, drinking the last of his glass of water.

"That sounds fine."

They walked there in near silence. Tino was bundled up, with gloves and a scarf and a hat a big puffy jacket.

"Here we're!" Tino said. He was very muffled behind the scarf pulled over his face.

The book shop was called 'Magic Dragon', and was comprised of cramped halls crammed full of books. It had a theme of dragons, matching its name, with stuffed dragons sitting atop bookshelves and dragon models hanging from the ceiling.

Tino chatted animatedly about this or that, and Ivan smiled indulgently. Even if he wasn't paying attention to the words the Finn was saying, the smaller man practically demanded Ivan to look at him.

Which is why he didn't see the worker bending down and shelving some new books until he ran into him.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Ivan said, grabbing the man's arm so as to stop him from falling.

"No, it's fine, sorry," the man said quickly, flustered.

Wait, was that…

"Ivan? Wow, we really must stop meeting like this, aru!" It was Yao.

"Oh, I. Yeah, that's…" Ivan sputtered. Neither of the two saw the Finn's beaming face, looking between the two.

"Wow, Ivan, look at the time! Ya know, I actually have somewhere I gotta be. See you around, yeah?" Tino said, pretending to look at his watch as he walked by the two, toward the exit.

"What?" Ivan asked. Did he just get set up?

Tino didn't answer, the shop door swinging shut behind him.

Ivan watched him go, shock and alarmed and mildly betrayed.

Yao chuckled softly

"My shift ends in twenty minutes if you wanna hang around and wait for me."

"Oh. Sure, yeah." Ivan looked back to Yao, who smiled before returning to shelving books.

Ivan glanced back to the door for a moment, wondering if the devious little Finn had actually left him, and if he'd been planning this all along.

Through the shop's front window he could see Tino, who grinned and gave him a thumbs-up before disappearing.


	12. Chapter 12

"So where do you want to go?" Yao asked after he had carded out for the day.

"Uh, I don't know."

"You don't have any opinion?"

"Not really. I don't walk around here very often."

"Wait, you've never been to Pike Place before? Is that what you just said? Really?"

"Well, no. I never have."

"Wow, well I know what we're gonna do today, then."

A half hour later, they were walking around the damp halls of the Public Market, Yao clutching a paper bag full of miniature donuts. They passed by a bronze pig and the fish market. Yao made them stand and watch some fish-throwing for a minute, and Ivan watched Yao's smile more so than he was watching the actual fish flying through the air.

They passed by the flower stands, and Ivan couldn't help but admire the sunflowers.

"So, why were you at the 'Dragon' today? I've never seen you there before."

"Ah, my friend wanted to go. Then he left…"

"Oh, yeah, I saw him, duh."

"Tino. He's a sly little…" Ivan thought about what he was going to say, and decided it was most appropriate to leave it at, "He's sly."

"Tino? Arthur has told me about him. Arthur was the one who showed him the ropes at Circes'."

"I keep forgetting that you and Arthur know each other. It is strange, to me."

"Yeah, but I've been friends with Arthur since he moved to the states. 'To the colonies' is how he had said it. As a joke, of course. We were roommates." Yao pulled him along to some of the fruit booths. "I owe him a lot, though. He's the one who got me that job at the Magic Dragon. It's his brother's store, you see."

"Wait, Arthur's _brother_ owns the store? Whose family _doesn't _ own a small business around here?"

"Well, actually it's a long complicated story, and it was left to Arthur's older brother, Buchanan, in a will. Since then one of their little brothers, Riley, has come to work for him, too."

"Wait, how many siblings does Arthur have?"

"Five; four brothers and one sister."

"Damn."

"Yeah, a whole lot of Protestants, you see. Except little Marie; she's Catholic, and you know how Catholics and Protestants get along over there. The boys and she don't get along very well because of that, so Arthur tells me."

Ivan nodded. He knew how religious issues could cause problems in a family. If Yekaterina weren't so accepting she probably would've forced Ivan, the family's atheist, and Natalya, the pagan, to go to her Orthodox church every Sunday. She had done that when they were young, but once she realized it was having a negative effect on the family's dynamics, she gave up.

"Yeah, but Arthur's seriously a good guy. He's… I don't know, he's just really great." Yao was smiling. Ivan pushed down the feelings of jealousy. That was not a good thing. It's not like Ivan and Yao were a thing or anything.

He nodded instead, not having anything to say about Arthur, and not quite trusting himself to speak.

"So," Yao said, changing the subject, "you had been telling me about your sisters. What are they like?"

_I was? _

"Well, Yekaterina is twenty-six, and she's says the two of us look more like our father. She says we look alike, which I don't know if that's a good thing, because she's not very good looking. My mother must have been very pretty when she was young, because Natalya supposedly looks just like her."

Yao nodded distractedly. "And what are they _like_?"

"Oh." Ivan thought for a moment as Yao led him by the arm to a soap stand, "Well I guess they're both kind of scary. My older sister raised both of us, pretty much, and she never really scolded us directly. She just sort of passively shamed Natalya and I when we did something wrong, and there is nothing more frightening than a disappointed big sister. Little sister however is the scariest when she doesn't get what she wants. Big sister," Ivan paused to smell a lotion that Yao held up for him. "Big sister is generally very smiley and nice, but little sister is never really smiley _or _nice. She is very smart, though. She's probably going to be the first in our family to graduate college."

"That is impressive. Where do you think she'll go to school? In St. Petersburg? I'm sure Moscow would have some goods schools."

"She wants to apply there and at UW."

"Oh? What does she want to go into?"

"I do not know. She always liked the stars, and at one time she was saying astrology. Since then she's said medicine, law, and about everything in between."

"Yeah. It's hard to decide."

"I never even considered college so I don't know anything about it."

"Really? Didn't even think you might?"

"Well, I didn't finish high school, you see. I dropped out in year nine because I had to go to work. With Yekaterina and me working, we were able to keep Natalya in school. Natalya took her education seriously because she knew how much it meant."

"Wow. That is very intense. How old is she?"

"About eighteen now. She's applying very soon."

Yao nodded. "My sister travelled abroad for several years before deciding. I knew what I wanted to do, though my step-father thought it was stupid. Kiku is probably the most successful of the three of us, and he went to the university when he was fifteen or sixteen. His father was _so_proud of him."

Yao sounded bitter about this but quickly recovered, pointing to another stand. "Wow, look at those plates!"

They were handmade imprinted plates, and Yao picked up on with a panda face. "It's so cute!"

"Fifteen dollar," said the merchant.

"Oh. I didn't bring any cash. I guess I'll be fine without it." Yao looked so disappointed. Ivan had fifteen dollars… He would just have to not drink quite so much vodka this week…

"I'll buy it for you," Ivan said, reaching inside his coat for a wallet.

"Oh, no that is fine. You don't have to do that!"

"No, I insist." Ivan counted out a few ones and a ten, and handed it to the merchant. She wrapped up the plate in some paper and stuck it in a bag for Yao.

"Wow, thank you! You really didn't have to do that."

Ivan shrugged.

At another stand, Yao found some incense he really liked, and aggressively haggled the price to about half. He pulled out his card and paid.

"Where did you learn to barter like that?" Ivan asked as they walked away.

"My mom. She would've been able to get a better price." Yao looked around the crowded booth area. He had gone to all the booths he'd wanted to.

"Now what do you want to do? We could go to Starbucks. Or there's a good piroshky place across the street."

"There's a piroshky place here? Is it any good?"

"I don't know, I've never had it before."

It was a whole hour before they could get in line, order, and sit down in the park across from the market.

They took out their own food and Yao looked at his suspiciously. Ivan wasn't even really paying attention to what he was doing until Yao looked up at him. Neither of them had taken a bite yet. "Well, on one?" Yao asked. Ivan nodded. "One, two, three." They both took a bite.

"Wow! They're good!" Yao exclaimed after he swallowed.

Ivan nodded. "Yes, but my sister makes them better."

"Well then," Yao said between bites. "You'll have to have her visit and make me some."

Ivan chuckled.

They ate their meal quickly and silently after that. When they finished, Yao took all the trash to a trashcan nearby.

"So… I suppose you're working tonight? When do you have to be there?" Yao asked, hands in his pockets. Ivan was so used to his bright red shirts by now that they went without comment. Except right now, when he was standing there just waiting for Ivan's response.

But right as he was going to responded, Yao's phone rang.

"Oh! I'm sorry," he pulled out his phone. "It's my brother, I have to answer." He clicked a button and answered.

"Hello? I'm at the Market. Can you speak up? Yeah? I'm in the park. Really? I guess, yeah, okay. See you in a bit."

"What was that?"

"I guess my brother is in the neighborhood and is going to pick me up. Hope that's okay. This was fun."

"Yeah, of course. I'll see you at the library, yeah?"

"Yeah!"

They walked toward the road, where Yao's brother would be picking him up. They didn't talk as they waited.

A small Japanese car pulled up next to them presently. "This is him. See you around!"

"Yeah, bye," Ivan waved as Yao got into the passenger seat.

"So, who was that?" Kiku asked as Yao buckled his seatbelt.

"Oh, no one."

"'No one'?" Kiku repeated evenly, if not suspiciously. "That's funny how you were downtown in the park with 'no one'." Kiku sent him a calculating side glance, and Yao knew exactly what he was thinking.

"No, not that, Kiku. His name is Ivan, and he's a friend of mine. I met him at the library."

They stopped at a light and Kiku looked at him pensively, before sighing. "Well. He'll have to come over for dinner sometime."


	13. Chapter 13

Ivan got to work twenty minutes early and was surprised to find Tino already waiting there for him.

"Sooo, how'd it go with Yao?" Tino asked, winking.

Ivan sighed as he sat down on a stool. "How did you even know he worked there?"

"Arthur, of course."

"Of course."

"Hey guys!" Matthias called, just coming in. "What are you guys talking about? Yao?"

Tino nodded and Ivan put his head in his hands, elbows on the table.

"Eyyy! Did you ask him to be yours yet?"

"Your one and only?"

"Forever and always?"

Sadiq came in then, seemingly to Ivan's rescue from the nosy and obnoxious Nordics. "Can you two can it? You're gonna make me hurl."

"Aw, Sadiq, you ruin all our fun," Matthias pouted.

"But seriously, Ivan. Make your move." Tino nodded, meant to be encouraging. "Oh, and Matthias and I were talking about how fun it would be if you came to our Thanksgiving. If you didn't already have plans, that is."

"Yeah! Ivan's first turkey time!" Matthias said, smiling broadly and nudging Ivan with his elbow.

"Thanksgiving? What is that?" Ivan asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Pretty much we eat and get drunk and the next day we trample people to death for a futon sale. It's great."

"Oh." Ivan didn't understand, but it didn't look like anyone was going to elaborate. "Sounds like fun?"

"We're having it and Ber's and mine this year. I'm just going to have to recruit Lukas to help me cook since Berwald won't be there."

"Lukas is going to help? Cook? Aw man, I don't want not raw fish. I'll help you, please, just don't let Lukas make any stinking Lutefisk!" Matthias started, almost begging Tino. "I had some when I met his parents and I got totally sick! I'm pretty sure his mom still hates me because of that!"

"Calm down, Matthias! We're not having any fish! I was going to have him make biscuits and Jell-O!" Tino assured him, hands up.

"Oh. Okay, good."

"Shouldn't you be setting up music, anyway?"

"Yeah."

Matthias went to the stage and hit several switches, going about his setup process. Ivan stayed by the ar. It was Monday night, and was not likely to be very busy.

"So, Thanksgiving is this Thursday, and we don't have any work that night. Lukas and Matthias come at noon, and Emil is bringing a friend. That's all whose coming for sure, and you hopefully, too."

"I probably can. But what is Thanksgiving?"

"I'm Finnish, I don't know. Google it, I guess."

Ivan did Google it. It didn't make much sense to him, per se, but he kinda got the gist of it. He logged onto Facebook and Skype.

Oh no.

He had never accepted the friend request from Yao. He quickly pressed 'accept', feeling guilty that he hadn't before.

He noticed that a lot of his American friends were posting Thanksgiving statuses and photos. A friend of Berwald, some 'Alma Oxenstierna', had posted a photo of herself and Berwald, both with Berwald's usual blank expression. He couldn't tell if she was copying him, or if she was legitimately just posing for the camera. She did look remarkably like him, most likely being a cousin or sibling.

He was about to read the comments when Skype beeped at him.

Yekaterina Braginskya

Hi Ivan! How are you doing?

Ivan Braginski

Hello big sister. I am doing well. How are you?

Yekaterina Braginskya

I am well. It's snowed now quite a lot, but we've only lost power once. I see you haven't gotten on a lot recently. Does that mean you've been making friends?

Ivan guessed that wasn't untrue. He hadn't been on for at least a week, and he had been out with people he supposed he could call 'friends'.

Ivan Braginski

Yeah, I guess.

Yekaterina Braginskya

Oh? That's great? What are their names?

Ivan wanted to tell her all about Yao. He wanted to tell her how Yao loved cookbooks and books in general. How he had a total sweet tooth and how endearing his oversized red shirts were. He wanted to tell her how he was maybe going to ask him out.

But Katerina was a strict, religious older sister. Ivan had kind of guessed he wasn't exactly 'straight' since he was about fifteen. He had never, ever dreamt of bring it up with his sister, though.

Ivan Braginski

Uh, Yao and Tino

Yekaterina Braginskya

Oh yeah? They sound nice. Have you found an Eastern Orthodox church yet?

Ivan Braginski

Not yet.

Ivan did not plan to ever find a church.

Yekaterina Braginskya

Natalya is also looking at some British colleges now.

Ivan Braginski

Oh? That's good. What is she looking to do, again?

Yekateina Braginskya

Herbal studies and astrology the last time I checked  
Hey, I have to go. Stay well, Vanya.  
Bye!

Yekaterina has left the conversation.


	14. Chapter 14

It was Wednesday when Yao text him.

Hey, are you going to the parade Friday?

Ivan stared at the text. Yao had only ever texted him the once before.

Um, what parade is that?

Macy's Day parade! You have to go, now. Want to meet me near West Lake Mall Friday morning?

Ivan felt giddy and light in the head.

Sure.

At about noon on Thursday, Ivan was standing at the doorstep to Berwald and Tino's apartment. It seemed cozy, with a light and dark blue sign hanging on the door, 'Welcome' written across it in yellow.

He pressed the doorbell and waited. He heard footsteps, and then Matthias was there, grinning and beckoning Ivan inside.

"Tino! Ivan's here!" Matthias called from the entry hall. He led Ivan down past several close doors to a common area, which had a dining table and was attached to a kitchen area. Tino was in there, stirring something in an opaque bowl. He smiled and waved when he saw Ivan.

"Hi! Lukas is picking up Emil's friend, and he'll be here soon. Have you ever played Monopoly? Matthias has it set up in the living room."

"Oh, uh," Ivan started, before Matthias piped up.

"I call the boot!"

"Oh, and take your coat off! You can hang it by the door," Tino called.

Matthias was already going into a third room, which was a living room with a large window, an Ikea furniture set, and a Matthias, lying on his stomach on the floor beside a board game. H was counting out slips of colored paper and placing them around the board.

Lukas arrived within five minutes, with Emil and Emil's friend, Leon, in tow.

"Leon, this is Matthias and Ivan, and Tino was in the kitchen. Everyone, this is Leon," Emil explained, sitting beside Lukas, who was seated begrudgingly beside Matthias. Leon sat between Emil and Ivan.

"Do you want to be the canon, Lukas?"

"I don't want to play."

"What? What do you mean you 'don't want to play'?" Matthias implored. His poor head just couldn't wrap itself around the concept of not wanting to play Monopoly.

"You heard me."

"I could be the canon," Emil offered, seeing how heartbroken Matthias was over older brother's refusal.

"No, you're always the hat. But, Lukas, you have to play!"

"Stop being annoying, I have to help Tino cook, anyway. Idiot."

Ivan watched this all silently. After Emil's offer was shot down, he also remained silent. Ivan got the feeling that this was one of those awkward family holidays. Leon and Emil whispered to each other quietly as Matthias pouted.

"Fine. Leon, what piece do you want?"

"I don't know. I'll be like, the money bag, I suppose."

"Okay. Ivan, you can be the dog."

Monopoly turned out not to be much fun by the end of it. Leon and Emil had apparently decided to gang up on Matthias to ensure he could win, and the Dane was sulking on the couch.

"The king has been defeated!" Emil announced as he and Leon went back into the kitchen. Lukas seemed to smile for a brief moment before going to the living room to find where Matthias had gone.

Tino watched this with a small smile before turning back to whatever dish he was preparing. Leon stood in the corner near Emil and stayed as quiet as he had been the past two hours.

"Well, so the turkey had another hour and the shepherd's pie has about a half hour. I told Berwald I'd Skype him. Does anyone else want to say hi?"

Emil shrugged a 'might as well', and they all went back to the living room, where Lukas and Matthias were sitting on the couch; curiously, they were on opposite side of the couch. They booth looked rather dazed, with Matthias eyeing Lukas, obviously confused.

Emil was watching them suspiciously.

Tino sat on the ground and pulled a laptop onto his lap. Emil was beside him, with Leon on the other side.

Berwald answered the Skype call almost immediately. He and Tino talked (ahem, Tino talked), and Emil and Matthias both called a hello. When pressed to do so, Lukas also waved at the came, which Tino had aimed at him.

Ivan didn't pay much attention to the conversation. Tino talked for nearly an hour, the others just awkwardly there. Lukas had gotten the shepherd's pie out of the oven for him, and now the turkey was almost done.

"Nh, Alma wants to say hi."

"Oh, okay! I haven't seen Alma for a long while," Tino said happily. "Hi Alma!"

"Helloh," a deep feminine voice greeted from the other side. She had an obvious Minnesotan accent.

The oven beeped, signaling that the turkey was done.

"I'll get it," Lukas said, standing.

"I'll help him," Matthias said, jumping to his feet and following him. Emil watched them leave.

Tino chatted a little longer. Ivan heard the turkey being put back in the oven, but the two didn't come back to the living room.

Tino refused to let anyone help him carry the dishes out into the dining room. When he set it all out, everyone sat down.

"I can cut the turkey if you want," Matthias offered, smiling and putting his hands out to take the big knife from Tino. Tino just smiled at him, sweetly yet completely unnervingly.

"No thank you, Matthias. I think I can handle it."

Matthias sat back down.

Tino cut the turkey masterfully, and served pieces to everyone. Tino, being a devout Lutheran along with Lukas and Emil and Matthias, said a quick prayer, and they passed dishes around family-style.

"So, how is high school going for you two?" Tino asked, taking a bite of Jell-O and looking at Leon and Emil. Ivan hadn't realized Emil was that young…

Leon and Emil exchanged glances before Emil said, "It's fine, but our humanities teacher is a total douche."

"Little brother! Don't talk like that at the dinner table!"

"Well, it's true," Emil mumbled.

"You two are high school friends? That's cool," Matthias said as he buttered a biscuit

"Yeah, we're both juniors."

Matthias nodded as he took a bite of his biscuit.

"So, Leon, does your family not celebrate Thanksgiving?" Tino asked once silence had fallen.

"Ahm, my cousins do. But they, like, invited my step-uncle, and I don't like him, so I accepted Emil's invitation."

"I see, that's too bad about your family."

"Not really," he shrugged.

It became quiet again, and Ivan took a drink of the beverage that had been poured for him.

Matthias smiled at Ivan's surprised expression. "I may or may not have put a bit of vodka in yours and Tino's," he whispered, winking conspiratorially.

"You did not," Lukas hissed, overhearing what Matthias had said.

"Stop whispering at the table," Emil said snarkily, glad to have something to scold his brother on.

Lukas silently glared at Matthias' smug smile, who winked at him.

"Oh! Ivan, what are you doing tomorrow? Have you ever gone to the Macy's Day Parade?" Tino asked suddenly.

"Ah, yes I am planning to go tomorrow."

"Oh? Who are you going with?" he asked. It seemed to dawn on him as soon as he asked, though, because he immediately followed it up with, "Are you going with Yao?"

"Well, I…" Ivan knew he was blushing, damn his light complexion.

"Yao? Wang Yao?" Leon asked.

"Yeah? Do you know him?"

"He's one of my cousins, yeah."

"What a small world!" Tino exclaimed.

Ivan and Leon nodded, but neither said any more on the subject.

After the plates had been cleared away and Tino was bringing out some pumpkin pie, Leon's phone buzzed. He read the message and sighed.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go pick up Yao. Thank you for having me," he said as he got up from the table and bowed his head to Tino. "I'll see you Monday, Emil."

"Thank you for coming!" Tino called as Leon collected his items.

Leon nodded once more before leaving.

Yao was sitting on a bench at the end of his street when Leon pulled up. "How long have you been sitting out here?" Leon asked when Yao got in the passenger seat of his car.

"I don't know, a half hour or so?"

"Why? What happened this time?" Leon had a good idea of what happened, but he knew Yao liked to vent, anyway.

"He started talking to me. God, just because he fucked my mom doesn't mean he can act like my dad." Yao was angry. He wasn't going to tell Leon exactly what his step-father had said.

"Yao, he married your mother over twenty years ago."

"Yeah, but—ugh, I had thought that when I moved out when I turned eighteen I wouldn't have to deal with him anymore. Aiyah, I just… If it weren't for Kiku, I wouldn't have to deal with that asshole at all. Now, though, I have to see his stupid face every fucking holiday, and it's going to drive me insane."

"I know. Everyone avoids him except Kiku. I would expect him to be more sensitive to your feelings about it, but I guess that's too much to ask. Maybe you should try celebrating with friends instead of family?"

"Kiku wouldn't let me."

"What do you mean 'Kiku wouldn't let you'? He's like, six years younger than you. If it makes you feel this bad, having to see him all the time, just tell Kiku to fuck himself, you know?"

Yao sighed

"How much did you eat?"

"Nothing. I left before we really sat down to eat."

"Do you want to go get, like, McDonald's or something?"

"No, I don't want a stupid burger from McDonald's."

"You're just in a bad mood. You want Burger King, then?"

Yao huffed and looked away. "…Fine."

Leon smiled.

Matthias had pulled out the beer after Leon had left. Tino had a stash of vodka that he shared with Ivan.

By the time he left, Ivan had a buzz from the high quality vodka: who knew Tino had such good taste in so many things.

He took the bus home and crashed on his bed as soon as he could.


	15. Chapter 15

The parade started at nine, and Ivan arrived at the overly-crowded West Lake mall at about 9:10. He texted Yao.

_Hello, I'm here. Where are you?_

_Meet me by the Starbucks, okay?_ Yao replied.

_Okay._

It was a chilly day and Ivan rubbed his hands as he made his way toward the coffee shop.

Just outside the door, Yao was waiting for him, holding two cups in his hands.

"Here," Yao handed him one. "It's cocoa."

Ivan thanked him and took a sip.

"We should go closer to the street." Ivan nodded and followed Yao as he weaved through the crowd.

Yao seemed off today, Ivan thought. He didn't smile quite the same when he saw Ivan, and he was unusually quiet. Ivan expected Yao to be pointing at cute floats and waving at the costumed characters as they walked by, but he didn't. He was distant.

When the last float went by, the crowd dispersed quickly.

"Do you want to go get something to eat?" Yao asked.

It was about eleven o'clock and Ivan _was _sort of hungry.

"Sure, where do you want to go?"

Yao shrugged. "I don't know."

Ivan considered this, and realized the golden opportunity he had. "What, you don't have _any_ opinion?" he asked, a joking smile on his face. He nudged Yao with his elbow, who smiled weakly in return.

"I guess pho sounds good, since it's so cold."

It was a short walk to the closest pho shop, and it was nice and warm inside. They sat down and Yao suggested the beef one to Ivan, since he'd never had pho before. Ivan took his advice.

They ordered and then drank the provided tea in silence. It was a comfortable silence, but for the fact that a silent Yao was a Yao that Ivan was completely unaccustomed to. There was obviously something bothering Yao.

When the food came, Ivan decided to ask about it.

Yao looked at him, surprised, before looking back down at his soup and shaking his head. He tried to change the subject by saying, "You should pull the noodles to the top and cover your beef, to make sure it's not raw."

Ivan followed his instructions, and peered back up at Yao curiously. Yao sighed and put his spoon down.

"It's nothing, really. Just, Thanksgiving really sucks with my family."

He looked up and gave Ivan a half-smile. Ivan considered telling Yao about meeting Leon, but thought better of it, for now.

"I'm sorry. It is very unfortunate when family can't get along." Yao nodded.

"But, you see my brother knows I can't stand his father, but he invited him to dinner anyway. So I left before dinner was even served." Yao shook his head, looking back to the soup. "I'm sorry if I seem off. My brother's upset that I just walked out, and now he's arguing with my sister about it and it's this huge fiasco now, and I'm just tired of it."

"You shouldn't be bothered by that. If you didn't like the situation, it was perfectly right for you to remove yourself from it."

Yao smiled. "Yeah, I guess so."

Yao seemed to relax after that.

"You can try your soup now. I'm sure the beef is cooked."

Ivan nodded and picked up his spoon and chopsticks. He watched Yao pick up some noodles. He didn't know how to use chopsticks, as he had never used them before. He tried picking up the noodles with his spoon and holding them there with his chopsticks, but they fell off the spoon. He tried to pick up the noodles with just the chopsticks, slightly spread and stationary, but that didn't work either. Nothing he tried was working.

"Do you want a fork?" Yao asked. He was smiling, obviously having seen the entire ordeal without saying anything.

"No, I can get it," Ivan said; now it was a matter of dignity. He tried holding his chopsticks a new way, and failed once again.

Finally, Yao took pity on him. "No, look here. You hold them like this." Yao took Ivan's chopsticks and positioned his hands, putting the utensils back between his fingers. "now move them like this," he said, demonstrating with his own. "It's easiest to eat the noodles like this," he said, showing Ivan how he pulled some noodles onto his spoon and twirled the chopsticks to twist the noodles onto the spoon. He took his chopsticks out of the noodles and put the spoon, now filled with noodles, in his mouth.

Ivan's first attempt didn't work too well. In fact, the first ten tries didn't quite pan out. It took him a long time to finish his soup.

When they did finish, Yao decided they should go down to the piers. "Have you ever gone to the curiosity shop down there?"

"I've never been to the piers."

"Really? Wow, we really need to go there. And the arcade, near the Ferris wheel. And there's a park with a lot of art sculptures, too."

Yao went on about the great features of the piers for a long while as they made their way toward the waterfront.

Yao pulled Ivan to the 'Olde Curiosity Shop' first, leading him to the back and showing him the mummies on display. Then he dragged Ivan to the arcade. Yao played a round of Dance Dance Revolution as Ivan stood nearby awkwardly. Yao was very good.

Yao bought another Starbucks for himself, and Ivan bought a cocoa. They walked to the end of the piers and into the park.

They looked at all the sculptures (Yao seemed very enthusiastic about art), and were walking back to the park entrance when they saw a fountain. It depicted a father and son, reaching out to each other. Yao looked at this for a long time, and Ivan stood beside him. Ivan wasn't so concerned with art as Yao was, but he liked how excited it seemed to make Yao. He smiled down at Yao as the man studied the fountain, and remembered what Tino had said a few days earlier. _"But seriously, Ivan. Make your move."_

Yao was quiet as they walked to the large observing dock. They leaned against the railing, side by side, and Ivan was reminded just how short Yao was compared to him.

Yao watched the water pensively, and Ivan didn't want to intrude on his thoughts, so he remained silent.

He did, however, still watch Yao out of the corner of his eye.

It was about four or five now, and the sun was low in the sky. This could be the perfect opportunity to ask Yao to be his boyfriend.

But… how?

What if Yao said no?

Was Ivan kidding himself, thinking he had a chance with Yao? Would it be better to stay good friend with Yao and never pursue a relationship, or try and fail, and have Yao never speak to him again?

How strongly did Ivan feel about Yao? He hadn't even really considered it, to be honest. He just had this _feeling_, but what that feeling really was, he couldn't even say.

Yao sighed quietly, bringing Ivan back out of his thoughts. Yao was resting his chin on his palm now, and he was looking across the Olympic Mountains. It was a beautiful view, Ivan thought (though he couldn't quite tell you if he was talking about the mountains or Yao).

"Yao?" Ivan asked quietly. Yao perked up at his name, smiling up at Ivan expectantly.

_Shit. What do I do now? _ He had nothing clever to say, no sly way of asking him out. Did he just say 'will you be my boyfriend?' Is that wording weird? Do people Ivan's age even call their significant other their 'boyfriend'?

"Ivan? What is it? You look pale."

Great, he's making a complete fool of himself.

"Will you…" he trailed off, not being able to finish the sentence. Yao listened attentively, despite how much Ivan wanted him to just forget that Ivan existed so he could go hide under a rock.

"Yes?"

There were butterflies in his stomach and his hands were clammy. This was a mistake, possibly the worst one of his life. He shouldn't have said anything.

"Ivan? What is it? Are you feeling alright? Do you need some water?" he asked, concerned, as he took Ivan's arm and started moving toward the closest convenience store. "Let's get you a glass of water."

"Wait, no." Ivan pulled his arm out of Yao's grip. It's now or never. "Yao, do you," Ivan swallowed. Yao was staring up at him curiously. "Do you… uh."

"What?"

Ivan took a deep breath. He'd come this far, so he might as well just spit it out. Without letting himself think any more, he blurted out, "Do you want to be my boyfriend?"

Yao froze, and the curiosity melted off his face. "Oh." He was shocked. (Not that he'd never thought about Ivan that way—he just didn't expect this.)

At Yao's response, Ivan regretted his words immensely. He messed up again. Of course Yao wouldn't say yes.

"I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. God, I'm sorry," Ivan started, wanting more than anything to retract his question. Yao probably hated him now.

"No, no, calm down Ivan. I'm just confused," Yao looked back over at the water. "Someone so young as you shouldn't waste your time with someone old and boring like me."

It briefly registered in the back of Ivan's mind that he didn't even know how old Yao _was_, before his shock at Yao's self-deprecating comment took over his brain. "What?" Ivan asked, sounding a bit more scandalized than he had meant to, "You're not a waste of time! If you were a waste of time, I'd never want to do anything productive ever again!"

Ivan wanted to hit himself. He's probably just making Yao uncomfortable now. "Ah, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have—"

"Will you shut up? I'm thinking."

Ivan's mouth snapped shut in surprise at Yao's authoritative tone. He waited quietly, though, as Yao deliberated (most likely on how he was going to say no).

There were several moments of silence, and Yao made no sign that he was about to speak.

The sun was just over the mountains, now, and Ivan was pretty sure he knew what Yao's final answer was going to be. Why did he ever think it would be different?

"Uh, Yao? It's okay, you don't have to be nice. I, um, I'll go now, if you want me to. Sorry," he mumbled, turning to leave. He just needed to go home and have a drink.

"No, no, don't go." Ivan froze. "I'm sorry; I had thought I'd said yes already. I just got a little preoccupied with how I'd tell Kiku about this."

_What. _

"Last time I dated someone Kiku totally flipped his shit," Yao explained, trying to wipe that confused face off of Ivan. "But no, yeah, I'll be your boyfriend."

It took Ivan a moment to compute this. _He said yes. He said yes! _Ivan grinned.

Yao laughed at his ridiculous smile and pushed against his arm playfully.


	16. Chapter 16

Ivan walked Yao home, or as far as Yao would let him. He said good bye about a block away from his apartment, giving Ivan an awkward smile before waving and walking off.

It was about six thirty when Yao got home, and Mei and Kiku were in the living room, chatting on the couch. It sounded like they had resolved the disagreement about yesterday. It was funny how they always resolved things, most of which revolved around Yao himself, without Yao's participation.

"Hey! We've been waiting for you!"

"Have you been at the library this whole time? I thought you were going to make dinner," Kiku greeted.

"Oh, yeah, of course."

Yao entered the small kitchen and set about preparing the food. Dinner had completely escaped his mind. He listened to his sister recount all of the deals she'd gotten shopping that morning. At one point, she got up to grab some ramune from the fridge for herself and Kiku, and paused to quietly whisper to Yao.

"So, who were _you_ with all day? Perhaps, dare I say, that Russian from the library?" She winked at him conspiratorially.

"First off, his name is _Ivan_, and second off, what would it matter to you if I _was_ with him?"

"Well, I guess I don't really care. As long as you two behave and use proper protection it's all good with me!"

"Wh-wh-what?" Yao sputtered. When did Mei get to be this… this way?

"What what?" Kiku asked as he entered the kitchen, taking his drink from Mei.

"Nothing! Nothing. There is nothing, that's what," Yao exclaimed, grabbing Kiku by the shoulders and steering him out of the kitchen. "I cannot have all of these people in the kitchen as I cook!" When he had seated Kiku back in his place, he returned to the kitchen and turned on Mei, who smiled innocently.

"Can you not run your mouth off like that?"

"So you're not denying your relationship with this 'Ivan'? Have you let him touch your boobs yet?"

Yao glared at her silently, and she put her hand to her mouth.

"Wait, so really? You and 'Ivan'? Seriously? The Chinese and the Russian. It's like a communist sandwich! Wow."

"Mei! Keep your voice down! I'm not going to tell Kiku just yet, so you must also keep your mouth shut. Alright?"

"You mean you've been keeping it a secret? Does that mean you and him have been an item for a _while_? And you didn't even tell me? Rude. You have to tell me _everything_."

"No, no you don't—ugh. I'll tell you later. Right now, Kiku is going to be very suspicious if you stay in here much longer. Also, I need to get back to cooking. Pretty much, get out of my kitchen."

"Sheesh, fine, okay. Your secret's safe with me, et cetera, whatever."

"So, how'd the parade go? Was it fun?" Tino asked as soon as Ivan arrived at work that day.

"Did you ask Yao out yet?" Matthias asked.

"Well…"

"You didn't? Again? Ivan, you have got to get a move on!"

"Yeah! Get your head in the game, man!"

"No, I did ask him! I asked him." Ivan stopped right there. It was still a little hard to believe.

Tino and Matthias nodded expectantly, waiting for him to continue. When he didn't, they both frowned and looked at each other.

"Oh no. He did he say no?" Tino asked, shocked. "But I thought he really like you! I'm usually so good at telling these things! I'm sorry, it's probably my fault." Tino trailed off, mumbling to himself.

"What? No, he said yes."

"Oh!" Tino perked up, relieved. "Good! I felt so bad for a second there!"

Ivan smiled and shook his head. "No, he said yes." He wasn't sure if he was reiterating for Tino's sake or his own.

"So where are you gonna take him out to?"

"What? 'Take him out'?"

"Yeah, like, your first date? Your first _real_ date?" Matthias pressed.

"I didn't even think of that."

Matthias and Tino exchanged shocked glances. "Oh, hon. Don't worry, we'll help you."

They didn't get a chance to just yet, though, because at that moment Lovino and Antonio came through. Antonio greeted them mildly as Lovino snapped at them to get to work.

Arthur and Tino worked the bar together that night. With Berwald out of town and Francis on the dance floor, Ivan took it upon himself to keep an eye on Tino (Ivan didn't know the story behind why, but he knew Berwald always paid close attention to Tino, and was close by him any time there might be trouble).

Around eleven, Ivan saw Tino answer his cell phone, and whisper something to Arthur as he went into the backroom. He looked somewhat upset, which concerned Ivan. Looking across the floor, Ivan noticed that Sadiq had also seen, and the Turk motioned for Ivan to follow him, and see what was going on.

The backroom was darkened; Tino had left and gone into the alley along the side of the building. Ivan followed.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll see how soon I can. I'm sorry. Yeah, I know. Yeah. Love you too." Ivan heard a phone click off, and found Tino leaning aginst the alley wall, sighing as he slipped the phone into his pocket. Ivan tried to close the door quietly behind him, but failed miserably. "Hey, Ivan."

"Hi. What's up?" Tino was definitely upset. It wasn't hard to read the Finn's expressive face.

"I… well. That was Berwald, just now. His mom…" Tino swallowed. "They're being advised to say their last…" Tino broke off. His shoulders slumped. "It's really hard to hear him like that. His mother had been getting better, but two days ago, she…" He broke off again.

"Hey, it's okay. It's… it's okay." Ivan was really horrible at comforting others.

"He hasn't slept in days. I'm so… worried about him. I can't imagine… watching someone I loved dying like that. Can you? It must be so horrible." Tino was blinking rapidly now.

"I don't have to imagine what it's like, but neither do you, stop trying to."

Tino stared at Ivan for a moment. "I'm sorry."

"No, this isn't about me, or you. It's about Berwald, right?" Tino nodded shortly.

"Do you need me to tell Arthur what's going on? I can get Lovino to let you off early, maybe, if you want."

Tino nodded again.

"Do you want me to call a taxi? Or is your car here?"

Tino shook his head. "I drove. Thank you, though."

Ivan nodded. "Do you want me to walk you to your car? Then I could tell Arthur."

Tino nodded again.

They set off slowly, Ivan watching Tino carefully. They were silent as they went, and they had gotten a block away from the club before Ivan heard a small sob escape Tino. Tino groaned and wiped at his face. Ivan hadn't noticed him starting to cry.

"God, why am I crying," he groaned, before another gasping sob escaped him.

"Don't hold it in. That doesn't do any good," Ivan advised him quietly. Tino's shoulders shook silently, as did his hands and he tried to wipe away his tears.

Ivan didn't really know what to do, to be honest. At home, he had never had friends he had to comfort, and if one of his sisters was upset, the other would console her. Ivan only faintly remembered being cradled by his mother as a small child. That was literally the extent of his knowledge.

"Can I just, can I just sit down here for a bit?" Tino asked quietly, obviously not trusting his voice.

Tino leaned against the storefront and sunk to the ground. Ivan didn't know what to do, but standing there awkwardly didn't seem right, so he sat beside Tino on the ground.

Tino pulled his knees to his chest, and hugged them, putting his face down. Ivan didn't know what to do as Tino started silently sobbing. He didn't know if he was supposed to comfort him physically or say something. He obviously wouldn't know what to say, so he patted him on the shoulder instead.

Tino hiccupped and looked over at Ivan. Without warning, Tino was wrapping his arms around Ivan and hugging him tightly.

Ivan didn't move. Was he supposed to hug back, or what? Awkwardly, he put one arm around Tino.

It took a while, but after Tino was able to pull himself together, they got him to his car and Tino drove home. Ivan made his way back to the club.

It wasn't until after the close was closed and Ivan was getting ready to go that Arthur beckoned him over to the bar.

He leaned over the bar so he could speak quietly. "Now, what happened with Tino?" he whispered.

"He got a call about Berwald's mother and—"

"No, that's all I need to know. Don't mention it to the other, alright? This should be kept private." Arthur looked into Ivan's eyes purposefully, as if daring him to counter.

"Yeah, sure, of course I won't."

"Good man," Arthur smiled and gripped his shoulder briefly.

Sadiq took this as cue to come over and grumble something to Arthur, which signaled 'time to go' for Ivan.

He walked home quickly, wondering if he should go check on Tino the next morning. Tino _did_ live near the library, too…

Sadiq hitched a ride home with Arthur. It was about half past four in the morning, and he was ready to pass out.

He hung his coat up in the closet and was heading straight for his bedroom when he became aware of his surroundings. He could have _sworn_ that he had turned off all the lights before he had left for work… Unless he was being robbed, there was no way those lights would have been turned on.

Sadiq's heart thrummed as he inched toward the living room door. He didn't hear any movement in the other room but he was not going to take a chance. He knew if he jumped into the room very quickly, he could flip the switch off and take the intruder by surprise.

He was bracing himself to do just that when he heard _it_.

"Miaou."

What the fuck?

He peeked around the corner to find _Herakles_ sitting at the couch with a cat on his shoulder and another on his lap.

Sadiq stood in the doorway sputtering until Herakles looked up at him. Then he snapped. "You brat! What are you doing here? I thought you were at 'Kiku's'!" Sadiq cried, trying to sound angry (failing miserably, though; he was really just relieved that Herakles _came back_). Herakles was unaffected as always. He raised an eyebrow, before letting it fall as he looked down at the cat in his lap.

"I'm sorry," was all Herakles said. Herakles said '_I'm sorry_'. Sadiq didn't respond for a moment, continuing to sputter stupidly before his mouth caught with his brain.

"What?"

The question annoyed Herakles visibly (though to the untrained eye it wouldn't have been _visible_ per se, but Sadiq was very accustomed to recognizing an irked face on the Greek). "I _said_ I'm sorry."

Sadiq naturally wanted to push this; make him specify what he was sorry for, say that this apology 'wasn't good enough for him', but Sadiq knew he was also in the wrong. To be honest (he'd never tell anyone, though), he missed Herakles too much to be a little shit right now.

"Me too."

Herakles didn't say anything further, and remained silent and still as Sadiq came over to the couch, removed the cat from his lap and shoulder, and laid down beside him, head in Herakles' lap.

Herakles fake-glared down at him, before running his hands through Sadiq's hair and sighing. "Fine," he said passively, deciding to allow this. "But I get to control what we watch, since you were so very rude to Larry just now. Tut, tut." Herakles leaned over to reach the remote, clicking the TV on. He flipped it to a Greek drama silently.

Sadiq sighed. That was fine. He had no idea what the actors were saying, but as long as Herakles' hands didn't leave his hair, he was fine.

He might just fall asleep there.


	17. Chapter 17

Yao went to Symposium early that morning. And, as always, before Yao had to say anything, Elizaveta knew exactly what was going on.

He had come in, like usual, and ordered a latte as he asked Elizaveta how she was doing.

"I should be asking you that. Why are you so happy today?"

"What? I don't know what you mean by that…"

"That Russian from the other day, huh? He asked you out, I'd bet my hair on it."

"What? I—what do you mean?" Yao sputtered. Am I really that obvious? Liz gave him an unimpressed look. "Yeah, okay, you're right. But how did you know?"

"Oh please, Yao, I always know these things. Woman's intuition, I guess you could say." She tapped her temple knowingly.

She then 'blackmailed' him into telling her the entire story of how he had met Ivan. By the end of it, he had finished his large cup of coffee and she was grinning at him.

"That's so cute! You two sound like kids!"

Yao glared. "I think you might think that is a good thing, but I am an adult and it is insulting! I am older than you are! I should be calling you the kid!" he crossed his arms stubbornly. "Speaking of you, what's up with that Gilbert guy?"

Elizaveta pursed her lips. "I don't have to tell you about that. You're not my real mom!"

"Stop calling me that you brat! I am male! I am a male adult and I refuse to be addressed like that!"

"Sure, sure. Whatever old man," Liz teased, grabbing at Yao's pony tail.

"I swear to god Elizaveta, stop doing that! It's so immature."

"Says the guys who calls his steady a 'boyfriend'. You're almost thirty years old; you're not in middle school anymore!"

They were to the point where neither remembered what had started their friendly bickering, and neither of them had paid attention to the Austrian, who had been playing some piece of Chopin moments before until he stopped to snap at them.

"Can you two knock it off, I'm trying to practice."

"Oh, shut up, princess," Elizaveta called back. Roderich huffed loudly to express his displeasure before turning back to the piano. Liz and Yao smiled conspiratorially to each other.

Ivan visited Tino about noon, and Tino explained how Berwald's mother had passed away during the night. Tino was flying out for the funeral to be there with Berwald.

Tino thanked h8im for checking on him, but explained that he had to get back to packing.

Now Ivan went to the library, bringing his books to return. He didn't plan to look for any books once they ones he already had were checked back in. He really came to see Yao (his boyfriend, he reminded himself. He smiled to himself each time his re-occurred to him).

Yao was sitting where he usually did, with a stack of books beside him. Ivan sat in the chair adjacent to him, and Yao greeted him with a fleeting smile before returning to his book.

"We can go somewhere in a second. I'm just trying to find a good beef recipe."

"Okay."

Yao flipped through several more recipes in that book, taking notes down into his red journal, and moved onto another recipe book. He filed through two or three more before he turned to Ivan.

"Will you help me bring these books downstairs?"

"Sure, of course." Ivan took the bigger stack of books laid out in front of them, and was mildly surprised at how heavy they actually were. He was impressed that Yao had been able to carry all of these upstairs by himself.

When they arrived at the cookbook aisle, Yao handed his several books over to Ivan, who held the bulk of them as Yao reshelved each one individually in the proper place. Ivan had to admit that he was rather cute, scanning the shelves carefully with such a look of concentration.

"Okay," Yao said when he was done. They walked toward the exit side by side. "Where do you want to go now?"

"I don't know."

"Hm…" Yao considered their options silently. He didn't look at Ivan, and seemed very focused, looking down the streets either way. "Do you just want to walk around?"

"Sure." It sounded strange to Ivan, just walking around, but that was okay. He did strange things with Yao almost every time they did _anything_.

"Okay. Maybe we could walk toward West Lake Mall. They have a really good crepe place there."

Ivan nodded, and they went off. There were a lot of people walking their dogs today, Ivan noted. He also noted that while he shied away from all of them, Yao seemed to coo at every single of them—even the particularly ugly ones.

"So I'm thinking we should have lunch at West Lake. Crepes and curry sound good?"

"Curry? Uh, sure."

Yao laughed. "You are going to try so much new food because of me. Maybe I could make you some dim sum, too."

"I don't know what that is."

Yao just laughed again.

West Lake was surprisingly calm, relative to what it had been the day before at the parade. Yao led them inside and up several escalators to the food court.

"I'll order food if you'll find us a seat."

Ivan nodded and began scavenging around for an open table. The café was rather busy so it took him a bit to find one. By the time he had taken his coat off and put onto the back of te chair, Yao was already coming to sit down, tray full of food.

"I hope you like nutella. I got a crepe with bananas and nutella." Yao waited for Ivan's response. "Don't tell me you've never had nutella."

"Well…"

"Oh no. Never, ever had nutella? Ever? That's sacrilegious. I don't know if I can talk to you until you have it. Here," Yao said, shoving a folded crepe into his face. He hesitantly took a bite.

Yao watched expectantly.

"This is pretty good."

"Right? Nutella is the best." Yao took the crepe back and took a bite himself. "I have two forks for the curry. Dig in."

By the time they had finished, Ivan's mouth was burning. He hadn't expected the spice level, though he refused to let it show. Yao seemed unaffected by this altogether.

"How'd you like it?" Yao asked as they he took his last bite.

"It is good. Very different."

"Spicy, you mean?"

"Well, yes," Ivan trailed off.

Yao was looking at his phone now. He was scrolling through messages before he frowned and looked up, scanning around the food court. "Shit."

"What is it?" Ivan asked, concerned.

"Uh, we should leave, like now."

"What? What's going on?"

"Come on," Yao said, standing and grabbing up their garbage, beckoning for Ivan to follow.

Ivan furrowed his brows before complying. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, we should just get going. I'm getting tired of sitting, that's all!"

He led Ivan toward the escalators quickly. The duo was about ten feet from the top of the escalator when a voice called out to them.

"Yao! There you are! You didn't text me back! Rude."

Yao froze, slowly turning to face the two young women approaching them.

"Hello, Mei. Funny running into you here."

The one whom Ivan supposed was Mei came forward to give Yao a short hug, who reciprocated it begrudgingly. The small woman, maybe twenty five or six, studied Ivan over Yao's shoulder for the short seconds that the hug lasted for. Ivan was surprised to notice that she was actually the pink librarian from the library, who was always helping Yao put books away. So she was actually his sister?

"So this is Ivan?" she asked as she stepped back, smirking at Yao.

Yao sighed and nodded. "Yes, this is Ivan. Ivan, this is my little sister Mei."

"Have you two already had lunch? We're on our breaks right now."

"Oh, that's too bad because we were just leaving. Right now."

"Oh, okay. We should have Ivan over for dinner sometime, yeah?" Mei said, winking at Ivan. "Well, see you. We have to get going, bye!" The two women moved off toward the restaurants.

"Alright, well. I'm supposed to go into work early. Christmas is a really big thing at the 'Dragon'. Book drives, et cetera. And Buchanan just fired the other girl who worked there." Yao sighed. "I'll see you Monday, right? At the library?"

"Yeah."

They departed outside of West Lake, and Yao started toward the waterfront, and toward the 'Magic Dragon'.


	18. Chapter 18

It turned out that Yao really _was _busy for a few weeks after that. Over two weeks, they only managed to grab a quick coffee once, and Yao was only able to go to the library half as much as usual, and for shorter times.

Most of that time he spent with Ivan at the library, however, was not focused on books as much as on talking to Ivan. Yao talked a lot, so all Ivan had to do was listen. Yao talked about the weather and how it was getting colder out, he talked about his co-workers, the insane Scottish brother of Arthur, and his own siblings, and the new recipes he had tried. Ivan learned that Yao loved snow, that his younger co-worker, Riley, had a knack for stacking books like card houses, that Yao tried new cake recipes almost every day and gave the leftovers to his sweet old neighbor across the hall. He also got the feeling that Yao still hadn't told Kiku about Ivan (though Ivan couldn't be upset about that—neither of _his_ sisters had any idea about Yao).

Tino had gone out to the funeral for Berwald, and when they returned with Berwald's younger sister, Alma, in tow. She had taken care of their elderly parents, and so she was coming out to stay with the two of them as things were sorted out back home.

It was about two weeks before Christmas now, and Yao was happily telling Ivan about some family reunion Arthur was having as they sat at their table. (It was so great for Arthur, Yao had said, because his family had a tendency to hate each other, so much so that the youngest sister, Marie, moved to Ireland so her brothers wouldn't try to visit her, but even she was coming out!)

Apparently Yao was very excited to see his youngest brother, eight year old Peter, who was being raised in Cardiff by the middle son, Owen. Owen was a businessman (though Yao couldn't confidently say what his business actually was).

This short briefing Yao gave him let him not be completely shocked when he went into work the next day to find Arthur's entire family gathered around the bar, all chattering raucously. By now, though, through Yao's descriptions, Ivan could rather easily identify the difference between them all.

First, of course, there was Buchanan, the eldest brother who had dark red hair and a beard, and always wore a kilt. Riley was a young, short, red-haired boy in his mid- to early-twenties. He was a half inch or so shorter than his twin sister Marie. Marie was a fierce woman with dark red hair like Buchanan, but hers was smooth and curly. The three of them had mean tempers, as Ivan had already seen with fifteen minutes of observing them.

Then there was Owen, the quiet, seemingly even-tempered business man, who was wearing his suit and drinking daintily from a glass of what looked to be Perry. Owen seemed rather quaint and quiet next to his siblings, but Ivan guessed that that may just be because he did not want to get between whatever his other siblings were bickering about. Arthur even looked to be holding his tongue, not wanting to start a quarrel.

Peter was the only one that Ivan did not see, which probably should have been more concerning that it was to Ivan. An eight year old running around a night club before-hours would not be the best thing. Arthur and his siblings were too preoccupied chatting to notice that their brother was not there, and Tino was setting up everything for the long night ahead.

Tino glanced up occasionally to look over at Berwald, who had brought his sister for the short time before work started (apparently everyone was bringing visiting relatives to work now?). They were both watching the general area of the bar, and when Tino looked up Berwald made eye contact with him for a split moment before looking at his sister, to respond to something she had said.

Alma was a strongly built Swedish woman, just two or three inches shorter than her brother (placing her at about six feet or so), and Ivan got this weird feeling that she, like her brother, was rather attracted to Tino. Which was really creepy, in Ivan's opinion.

When Ivan looked back to the bar, it seemed that Tino had somehow found Peter, and was now making him a drink at the bar.

Arthur washed glasses idly as he listened to his brothers talk. They were an easily irritated group, so Arthur knew to refrain from interjecting anything until they had all had at least one pint each. That still didn't stop Riley and Buchanan from cracking Catholic jokes, and it definitely didn't stop Marie from cracking a bottle over Buchanan's head.

Eventually, after they had separated the three of them, Own brought up a subject all five of them had been expecting, but equally dreading.

"So, uh, you all know my work is sending me to Beijing." Arthur poured Marie another shot of whiskey, and they all nodded. "Well, I am very excited and I think Peter would love it there, but…" There was a sigh that went through the group. "Yeah, you know. I'll be working too much to actually take care of him. I know none of you can take him right now, but we do need to find something for him."

There was a contemplative silence.

Well," Buchanan said, "As long as he doesn't go to live with some bloody Catholic."

Marie punched him in the face.

"Hey, come on, you two. This is serious."

Meanwhile, the said boy was running around near the bar, play-pretending to be a sea captain on some dangerous mission. He even managed to get behind the bar without anyone noticing. He smiled to himself proudly and went to the room behind the bar, which was filled with shelves of bottles and glasses and one short blond man. Peter didn't recognize him, but he was climbing on a short ladder to reach a bottle on the top shelf, and Peter figured he should introduce himself.

Peter cleared his throat, apparently startling the man, who nearly fell off the stool and just barely caught the bottle, which he had just grabbed. He turned to Peter, surprised, and Peter introduced himself without pause or concern for the man.

"Hello! I am Peter! What's your name?" he asked eagerly, leaning forward on the balls of his feet.

"Uh…" Tino looked around hesitantly, before replying, "Hello Peter… are you supposed to be back here?"

Peter shrugged.

"What's your name?"

"Tino. You're Arthur's little brother, aren't you?" Peter nodded. "Uh, I really don't think you're supposed to be here?"

"I'm on an adventure!" Peter made a stance reminiscent of a superhero. "I'm very sneaky! None of my brothers even noticed me come back here."

Tino smiled at his childishness. Peter must have been seven or eight, he figured, and didn't mean any harm by 'sneaking' around. Tino still had to get him back out of the storage room, though, before something bad happened.

"Well then, Mr. Adventurer, how about I make you a Shirley Temple? Would you like that?"

Peter nodded excitedly.

We've got two weeks to figure this out, I suppose, before you go to Beijing, right?" Arthur reasoned.

"Well, actually," Own started, rubbing the back of his neck. "They moved my departure date up to this Monday. I'm sure we can figure something out, though, at least for temporary, right?"

"Hopefully."

Alma and Berwald were making small talk over in one of the corners of the club. Alma was talking about some skier whom she used to follow in the professional league, and how she wanted to check out the slopes over in the Washington mountains.

The two of them had been raised by a very Swedish family, and so even now their conversations were made of an awkward mixture of Swedish and English.

Alma was a year younger than Berwald, and had never lived anywhere other than home with her parents. She had met Tino once before the funeral, and really liked him. Like, _really_ liked him.

There was a break in the conversation when they saw Tino come out of the back of the bar with a young boy. Tino went about making some sugary pink drink for the little one.

Berwald watched fondly as Tino gave the drink to the boy, smiling and patting him on the head, and presumably asking him if it was good, because the boy was nodding enthusiastically.

"You know, brother," Alma started, her voice thick with her Minnesotan accent, "if you like, you'd better put a ring on it." She nodded once before muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'or I will.'

She looked over at him, and saw that he had grown red. If she were anyone else, she would've thought he was angry, but Alma knew he was actually just embarrassed.

Arthur looked over at Tino and Peter, and smiled. His brothers were standing now, and taking up their jackets, and none of them saw Tino giving Peter the sugary drink. Peter grinned and thanked Tino before going over to Owen.

"So, it looks like Peter likes you, yeah?"

Tino smiled and shrugged, "He's just a friendly little guy, isn't he?"

"Yeah, yeah, he is."

Tino could practically see the gears working in Arthur's head. "You know, you don't think you'd be able to babysit him a couple nights in the next couple weeks, do you?"

"Oh, I don't know. I suppose I can check with Berwald…"

"That would be might swell of you!" Arthur grinned and patted the Finn on the back.

The club was slow that night, and Ivan only had to break up on small fight. Arthur and Berwald's siblings had left about fifteen minutes before the club had opened. Now, at the end of the night, Arthur was talking to Tino, who was calling Berwald over to join whatever discussion they were having. Ivan didn't think it would be very much interesting, whatever it was they were talking about, so he took his leave.

As he walked home, he saw that he had a text from about six hours before. It was from Yao.

_Do you want to have lunch tomorrow? _

Ivan checked the time and figured that four AM was not a good time to respond—Yao would definitely be asleep by now. He replied anyway.

_Sounds great, if you're still up to it._

Yao had gone to sleep about ten that night, until he started having dreams, and not necessarily the _good _kind of dreams. He woke up about midnight. All of his blankets were knocked onto the floor, and he was breathing heavily.

Once he regained himself, he sat up and went to get a glass of water. He grabbed his phone on the way out the door. Ivan had yet to respond to his invitation to lunch—he was probably still at work.

It was a shame, Yao could've used the distraction to plan their outing tomorrow.

Yao tip-toed past Kiku's door (if one could even call it a door. He literally took the wood door off its hinges the day they had moved in and replaced them with curtains). The curtains were very thin, so Yao was very quiet as he passed them. He did not need to get Kiku up to deal with his issues.

Yao poured water from the pitcher in the fridge and sat at the table. He did not want to think about his dream, so he preoccupied himself with reciting recipes he had memorized. He mentally recited every step of every stir-fry he'd ever made. When he ran out of those to recite, he recited them again in Mandarin, and then Japanese.

Every time his focus lapsed, the images from his dream reappeared behind his eyes.

Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was one now. He was tired, but he didn't dare go back to sleep.

He could read, but his mind tended to wander when he did, and he couldn't let that happen right now.

So naturally, he began to bake. Cookies were the easiest, so he went about getting the ingredients out for them.

He baked batch after batch, and by four AM he had nearly every open counter space filled with cookies. He was just plopping the last cookie batter onto the cookie sheet, and calculating if he had enough ingredients to make another batch when his phone buzzed.

It was Ivan.

_Sounds great, if you're still up to it. _

Yao smiled. He turned off the oven and sat on the lip of the sink.

He wondered if he should respond right now or wait until morning. Lunch with Ivan would help Yao immensely, he thought. He threw the dishes he had used into the sink, put the cookie sheet in the fridge so he could bake them another time, grabbed a cookie and went to bed.


	19. Chapter 19

The next morning, as Yao made his way to the kitchen for breakfast, he remembered all the cookies he had made, and how he hadn't put them away.

Kiku was already in the kitchen, cup of coffee in his hand, as he looked over the dozens and dozens of cookies littering the counter with a look of concern and weariness.

"So," Kiku started, "nightmares?"

Yao quirked the corner of his mouth downward and looked away, busying himself with getting a bowl from the cupboards. "Yeah."

Kiku sighed, "You know you can wake me up when that happens."

Yao just nodded, pouring cereal and milk into his bowl.

Kiku put his cup down. "No, seriously, Yao. It's what I'm here for."

"Yeah, I know." Yao looked at him and willed Kiku to drop the subject.

"Good."

At that moment, a jangling came from the front door, and Mei's voice called out, "Hello! Good morning, boys!"

Kiku went out of the kitchen to greet her.

"Mei? What are you doing here?" Yao heard her set down her bag on the sofa.

"My roommate threw a party last night and I thought it would be easier to come over than to venture into the kitchen over there."

"Couldn't you have told them to go home?" Kiku suggested.

"No! I couldn't!" she exclaimed, coming nearer to the kitchen as they spoke. "They all only spoke Polish!"

"Well, help yourself to whatever's in the kitchen. We have eggs in the fridge."

Mei entered the kitchen and greeted Yao, shooting him a concerned glance after noticing all the cookies.

She made her eggs and ate them as Yao buttered himself some toast. Kiku had finished his coffee and was now drinking a cup of tea and reading a newspaper when Mei and Yao went out to the living room. Yao had packed some cookies into a paper bag and folded it over.

"So, what are you doing today, Kiku?" he asked as he pulled on his coat.

"I'm going into work, then I might catch Herakles before his shift starts at the museum. What about you, Mei?"

"I've got a short shift at work today," Mei chimed in as Yao buttoned his coat. "Then Lien and I are going shopping."

"And what are you doing, Yao?" Kiku asked, eyeing Yao over his newspaper as Yao bundled himself up.

Yao stalled his answer as he wrapped a scarf around his neck an unnecessary number of times. This could be the perfect time to tell Kiku, and then leave. Kiku didn't have his shoes on and he wouldn't be able to ask for clarifications about Yao's boyfriend or anything if he just blurted out 'I have a boyfriend' and went right out the door.

Perfect.

"Oh, I don't know," Yao said, throwing the end of his scarf over his shoulder one last time. "Going to bring some cookies to a friend, have lunch."

"With who?"

"Ah…" Yao picked up the bag of cookies and had one hand on the doorknob when he said, "My boyfriend. Bye!"

He rushed out the door and slammed it shut on Kiku's consternated protests.

Yao had sent Ivan the address of a café as soon as Ivan had responded that morning. Ivan had been surprised that Yao was still up.

He probably shouldn't ask about that, though.

Right now, anyhow, he was seated at a small table in this busy little café, waiting for Yao. He didn't wait too long, however, before the bright red shirt appeared at the front, signaling Yao's arrival. Yao was led to the table and seated himself opposite Ivan. They smiled at each other shyly and Yao placed the bag of cookies on the table.

"I hope you like chocolate chip cookies—I hope you've _had_ chocolate chip cookies," Yao teased playfully as he slid the bag over to Ivan.

"Okay now, I _have _had _some _things, you know."

Yao smiled cheekily and said, "I know, I know."

The waiter came then, and Ivan felt a niggling in the corner of his mind that something was up with this waiter.

"Bonjour, mon amis, can I take your order?" The man had a smooth French accent.

Ivan didn't know what he wanted yet, even though he had extra time before Yao had even arrived to look at the menu, so he hurriedly scanned through the menu to find _something_ that looked good.

Yao looked up at the waiter with a smile and said, "I'll have the French Toast."

"Ah yes, today's special," he said as he jotted down the order. "Anything to drink?" Yao shook his head. "Non? Okay. Say," the waiter paused, "I do not know you, do I?"

Ivan looked up at Yao and the waiter and froze internally as he looked into the waiter's eyes. It was none other than Francis Bonnefoy.

"Eh? What is this? Ivan? I did not even notice! Bonjour! And, uh, Yao? Yes? Of course!"

Yao obviously didn't recognize him. "What?"

"We went to school together—at uni? We were in a few of the same classes!"

"Oh. Yeah, Francis? Yeah. I remember." Yao smiled, short and tight.

"It is so funny to run into you here, no? It has been so long!"

"Oh yes, so funny."

"Anyway, I didn't know you two knew each other? What a small world." Yao shot Ivan a funny look, almost asking 'you know him too?' "Anyway," Francis continued, "What would you like?"

"Ah…" Ivan had been distracted from deciding, so he glanced down and chose the first thing he read. "Omelet… du fromage?

Francis smiled and wrote this down. "Anything else? Appetizers, drinks?"

Yao shook his head no so Ivan also declined.

When Francis left, Yao turned to Ivan and asked, "How do _you_ know him?"

"Auh, I guess you could say through work? And you? You went to university with him…?" Ivan didn't really like the sound of that; from what he's heard about college parties, mixed with Yao within the vicinity of some like _Francis_.

"Yeah we were in some of the same courses in culinary school."

"Oh." Ivan thought for a moment before asking, "Then why don't you work at a restaurant or the like?" He regretted it immediately. There was a fleeting expression on Yao's face for all of a split second that Ivan couldn't quite place, but he didn't like it.

Yao shrugged and said, "Well, I guess it just didn't work out for me." Yao looked uncomfortable with this topic, but continued. "I had… unfortunate circumstances at the time and I couldn't finish."

"Oh." Ivan fumbled with the utensils wrapped in a napkin beside his plate. "Sorry I asked."

"No, no, it's fine. I mean, what if I had graduated? Would I have ended up like Francis? He's not even a chef here, just a waiter. That's not what he had wanted, and what I would have wanted either, so it's fine."

Ivan nodded, but was not convinced that that was how Yao actually felt. "I suppose."

Yao probably didn't hear that though, because he was in one of his pensive states again, during which Ivan felt that to speak was to intrude or interrupt his thoughts. The awkward silence continued up until Francis brought them their food, thankfully without much more comment.

"So do you have a nice coat?" Yao asked suddenly, before either of them had started eating.

"What?"

"Oh, sorry, let me explain," Yao said as he took his first bite, slightly embarrassed that he had forgotten the other important points connecting whatever he had his mind on to what he said. "I told Kiku about you just before I left, and I'm sure he'll want to have you over for dinner soon. So I was wondering if you had a nice jacket to wear for that. My brother can be very shallow sometimes."

"Oh." Ivan had heard so much about Kiku, so much so that he had completely forgotten that he was going to have to meet him some day. "Oh. I suppose I do have one."

"I'll have to see it before he does, just to make sure."

Ivan nodded as Yao began to eat his lunch.

As they ate their food, Yao turned the conversation back to the usual topics.

After they finished, they walked to the library.

Ivan knew that he was eight inches or so taller than Yao, so there should be no way that their hands nudged as often as they did on that short walk.

Ivan followed Yao to the cookbook area and waited as Yao scanned the shelf for whatever books he was going to read. As Yao selected each book, he hand it to Ivan to hold. By the time he nodded, signaling that he had all he needed, Ivan had his arms completely full of books.

Yao, as usual, was entirely buried in his books for the next two hours. He took down notes and flipped pages frequently, and Ivan, also as per usual for their recent visits together, sat idly by his side, watching Yao sneakily from the corner of his eye.

At the end of two hours they both had to go, and they bade each other farewell. As usual, Ivan was awkward about this and they went back and forth saying 'bye' for about thirty seconds.

Later, after Ivan had gone to work and finished for the night and he was leaning up against the bar, listening to Arthur and Alfred's bickering, Tino seemed to just remember his previous obsession with getting Yao and Ivan together. He'd been silent on the matter since his return from Minneapolis, and Ivan had thought that that would be the end of the Nordics' nosing in his business.

He was wrong.

"Hey, so Ivan, how are you and Yao doing? Did you manage to figure out your first date? I hope you did—how long's it been? Two, three weeks?"

Ivan sighed internally before answering. "Yeah, I think we are good. And yes, I figured out the first date, thank you," he finished deadpan.

"You'll have to tell me about it later, yeah? It looks like Antonio has something to announce."

Ivan turned toward the stage, where Antonio and Lovino were standing. Antonio cleared his voice and the chatter in the bar area died down.

"Hello! I have something to say so be quiet, por favor!" Lovino rolled his eyes at Antonio's unnecessary use of Spanish. "By 'be quiet' I mean you, Alfred," Antonio continued, not breaking his sweet smile.

"What! I'm not loud!" Alfred exclaimed (loudly), before laughing his loudest, douchiest laugh. Ivan could practically _feel_ the long suffering sighs go through the group of them.

"Now, as you all know, it is the Christmas season, which means…" Antonio trailed off for a moment, probably for the effect of anticipation, as his smile grew. The pause was just long enough for Sadiq's preemptive groans to be audible before he continued, "Christmas Eve party! It will be, well, obviously, on Christmas Eve, here at Circe's. We will have a White Elephant gift exchange and everyone can bring a plus one. Also, Arthur, as usual, all of your brothers are banned, sorry."

Arthur nodded understandingly.

"Great! Alright. Good night everyone! See you tomorrow."


	20. Chapter 20

Tino texted him the next day to invite him to the gym. Ivan supposed he should go along and wear the clothes Tino had bought him so long ago for his birthday. He brought the bag with him.

When he arrived, Feliciano pointed out the locker room to his left and gave him a key to a locker.

Ivan changed and went out to the gym, keeping his scarf around his neck. He was slightly uncomfortable with such thin and light clothes, especially seeing how cold it was outside.

Matthias, Tino, Lukas, Berwald, and Emil were already there. Berwald and Tino were chatting amongst themselves quietly to one side, and the other three were silent. Ivan came closer and noticed that while Matthew worked on calf exercises on their usual machines, Lukas was perched behind him on the bench and staring directly into his younger brother's eyes. Emil was sat across from him, trying to not make eye contact.

"Hey Ivan!" Matthias greeted, obviously eager to have a distraction from the awkward exchange behind him. For once, Tino wasn't the first one to greet Ivan. It didn't even look like Tino had noticed him yet, too engrossed with Berwald and whatever they were discussing. Fortunately also, Matthias didn't seem fazed by Ivan's scarf. "Are you actually going to work out today?"

Ivan nodded.

"Do you know how to use these machines?"

Ivan shook his head.

"Okay, let me show you."

Matthias stood and showed Ivan how to use the different parts of the machine; how to use the leg weights, arm weights, and how to adjust the amount of weight put onto them.

Matthias adjusted the weight for Ivan, and set it up for arm exercises.

Ivan thanked him and sat down. He put his hands where Matthias had shown him to and tried to push it. When it gave so easily, Ivan turned to Matthias and asked, "How did you say I add weight, again?"

"What?" Matthias blanched. "I set your weight to the same as mine! You shouldn't need more weight."

"It's too light."

"What!"

Lukas laughed under his breath, amused by Matthias' dismay.

"Fine, here," Matthias said, pushing a button or something, and a clicking signified the added weights.

Ivan tried it again and it was better. He could take much heavier but he figured it would seem heavier after he did it a while.

Matthias returned to his own machine, with Lukas and Emil still in an awkward staring contest (now Emil was trying to glare back).

Aside from Tino and Berwald's quiet conversing and the clanking of machinery, it was silent.

"Ah, you know, we told Arthur we'd take care of Peter tonight, and I need to go clean up the apartment before that! Hi Ivan! Bye guys," Tino waved, though awkwardly. "See you all around."

Tino and Berwald took their leave then.

"I have study group, too, so we'd better get going, brother," Emil said.

"Oh yeah? Study group with _who_?" Lukas sneered. "_Leon?_"

"Maybe. What if it is with Leon? What are going to do? _Not allow me to study?_"

"Maybe I won't."

Emil rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure. I still need to go."

Lukas gave a short sigh and stood.

"Alright. Bye."

"Yeah, I'll text you later, okay?" Matthias called after them as they walked toward the front. Lukas waved in acknowledgement, not turning around.

As soon as they were gone, Ivan felt somewhat awkward with the silence, so he asked, "What is going on there?"

"'There?' As in… Tino and Berwald or Lukas and Emil?"

"Uh, I was thinking Emil and Lukas. There's something with Tino and Berwald, too?"

"Well, as it turns out, Lukas was the only one in the entire word that didn't realize that Leon and Emil had a thing. I thought it was _obvious_, so I never said anything. But, as it happened, Leon was over for 'study group', and poor Lukas sorta walked in on… something."

Ivan paused a moment, before saying, "Oh."

"And Tino and Berwald… I _think_ Tino thinks Berwald's going to pop the question."

"Pop… a question? How do you pop a question? Like a bubble?" Ivan did not recognize this phrase.

Matthias gave him a look before saying, "No, no, _the_ question. The big one."

"Oh. The _big _question," Ivan repeated, sarcastically making it clear that he still had no idea what Matthias meant.

"Like, the _question_, you know? About… the thing." Matthias was floundering. "Getting married? The 'will you marry me' one. That question."

Ivan _was_ taken aback by that. "Those two? Are gonna? They're going to get married?"

"That's what Tino thinks. I don't think he's too far off base, either."

"What makes Tino think that?"

"Alma's been pressuring Ber to. That's one thing I know for sure."

Ivan stayed to work out, switching his exercises every so often, for the next two hours. Sadiq and Ludwig, along with a couple other Ivan didn't recognize, came and went in that time, but he and Matthias stayed.

"I should probably go now," Ivan said as it neared three.

"Yeah, me too," Matthias agreed.

They cleaned up and changed in the locker room quickly.

After they had exited the gym, they walked to the busses and went their own way from there.

Ivan checked his phone after he had seated himself on the bus. He had one unread message from Yao.

_So, Kiku has 'cordially' invited you to lunch this Wednesday. Will you be able to come? I hope you will. We'll also have to see about that coat. _

Gupta Muhammad Hassan lived an ordinary life in Seattle. He worked at a shitty little hole-in-wall coffee shop downtown.

It really was a hole in the wall, too. It had one table with two chairs and the one room of it could hold maybe ten people tops.

It was a dreary job, with tired, baggy-eyed people coming to get their fix of caffeine for cheap.

The one sure-fire way Gupta knew how to tell when it was Christmas season (though he really didn't care; he was Muslim and didn't celebrate Christmas, anyway) was the horrible sweaters his customers started wearing, the increase in gift card sales, and the appearance of his two high school friends, Sadiq and Herakles.

Sadiq would greet him amiably, thumping him over the back, even over the counter that separated them, and Herakles would hand him a slip of paper without comment.

Gupta didn't need to look at it to know that it was an invitation to Herakles' church's Christmas service. Gupta sighed and put it aside.

"You know, Herakles, I'm flattered that you always think of me when it comes to Christmas, and it's nice that you want to invite me and everything, but, as I say every year, I am Muslim. I was Muslim last year, and the year before that, and I will probably be Muslim next year, too. And that means, as I have explained, that I don't celebrate Christmas." Gupta had this speech down pat after all the years of having to recite it to his Greek friend. Herakles, for all his effort, just shrugged, and ordered his normal coffee. "Aren't you Muslim, too, Sadiq?"

Sadiq shrugged also, "Sometimes you have to be a teensy bit compromising, yeah?"

Gupta raised an eyebrow. Sadiq and Herakles' relationship, last time he checked, was anything _but_ compromising. Last time they had a particularly bad off-period, Sadiq had come in here to complain about whatever it was they had been arguing about. However, Herakles had had a similar idea, and when Sadiq saw Herakles coming toward the shop, he had jumped into the one bathroom the shop had, and locked himself in there the entirety of the time that Herakles was there visiting Gupta.

He was in there for two hours. Because he didn't want to face Herakles.

Compromising.

Okay.

"Okay, whatever. Are you going to order a coffee or?"

"Oh, yeah. I'll have a drip. I don't need no fancy girly flavors like Herakles."

Herakles gave Sadiq a look and Gupta could already see the regret at that comment.


End file.
